(Top) Students of Bilabalrampur Primary School stage a protest outside the institute and students of Angulai Primary School block the Kendrapara-Angulai Road on Saturday. Telegraph pictures

Kendrapara, Nov. 22: Students of Bilabalarampur Primary School today held a demonstration in front of the district education office to protest against the inappropriate transfer of teachers from the institute.

Earlier, students from various parts of the district had resorted to several means of protests to assert their right to education as academic activities in over a dozen government-run primary and upper primary schools had come to a halt due to this situation.

With parents and guardians supporting the movement, the students have skipped classes and even locked up the school buildings to protest against the shortage of teachers in their respective schools.

“Our village school lacks the required number of teachers. Despite the deficit, the department has shifted two teachers from the school to the institutes with surplus teachers. Classroom teaching has been badly affected. We have shut down the school. Students have skipped classes. The agitation would continue till the transferred teachers are re-posted,” said Bramhanand Biswal, a guardian.

Besides, students of the Angulai Primary School blocked the Kendrapara-Angulai road. Police and local tehsildar had to intervene to restore order.

“Classes are getting affected as teachers are being transferred from our school. We told our parents about it. They advised us to stage the road blockade, so that the transferred teachers are brought back to our school,” said a Class V student of the school.

“Such incidents had never happened before. The schools and mass education department officials are responsible for this. An organised transfer-racket is active in the district. A thorough probe is needed to identify the officials, who have implemented the mid-season transfer allegedly under monetary consideration,” said Bhagaban Jena, an educator.

“The situation has come up following transfer orders issued to teachers posted in schools across nine block headquarters of the district. The mid-season transfer executed by the schools and mass education department goes against the norms and guidelines. The department guidelines specify that there should be a 1:30 teacher-student ratio in government-run primary and upper-primary schools. However, the department, in gross disregard to the norm, has carried out the transfers. Teachers were transferred from schools, which lack adequate teaching staff members. This has led to the agitation,” said spokesman of the teachers’ co-ordination committee Abani Kumar Mohanty.

“It’s alarming to note that school students are resorting to such means of protest. Their demand is justified as the schools fall short of the required number of teachers. The administration has taken serious view of the alleged irregularities and discrepancies on part of the schools and mass education department in carrying out transfers of primary and upper primary teachers. The block education officers of the nine blocks of the district have been directed to hold the transfer orders,” said Kendrapara collector Pramod Kumar Das.