Kendrapara, Dec. 20: The National Human Rights Commission has issued summons against commissioner-cum-secretary of the schools and mass education department to appear before it on January 11 for failing to submit an action taken report on the alleged act of toilet cleaning by students of a government-run primary school here.

The students of government-run Kolathia primary school in the Pattamundai police station limits were allegedly forced to clean the school toilet on November 4 last year and the incident had sparked off a controversy. The commissioner-cum-secretary could not be contacted for the government’s version.

It was alleged that the headmaster of the primary school, Parameswar Nayak, had meted out the punishment as a group of Class III students, aged between seven to nine, had created noise in the classroom while a teacher was there. The incident came to light after the children complained to their parents.

The alleged incident has triggered a public outcry as parents and guardians had stepped up their demand for stringent disciplinary action against the teachers, who had inflicted humiliation on their wards. H.R. Bansal, a New Delhi-based lawyer and rights activist, had drawn the attention of the commission while describing it as an act of infringement of child rights. In accordance with the Right to Education Act, the students are prohibited from doing any form of manual work. Asking the children to clean up the toilet is not only regrettable, but also unlawful, Bansal said.

Taking cognisance of the petition, the commission had sought for the compliance report from the government agencies of the state. But, the schools and mass education department had remained unresponsive to the commission’s queries on the incident.

“The veracity of the charges levelled against the headmaster was looked into on-the-spot inquiry. The monthly salary of Nayak, who had allegedly asked the children to clean up the toilet, has been held up,” said district inspector of schools Gobind Chandra Pati.

“A departmental probe claimed that two students of the school had cleaned the urinal not the toilet by throwing a bucketful of water. The sole toilet in the school is lying idle. According to the guideline of sanitation committee, constituted in each school, students clean the school urinals as part of inculcating hygiene and cleanliness habits in them. Thus there was nothing wrong in the headmaster asking the students to do sanitation work,” said an official of schools and mass education department.