Bhubaneswar, Jan. 28: The school and mass education department today passed orders to disengage a woman teacher from a Bhadrak school following allegations of cheating.

Authorities noticed that the teacher was signing the attendance register without taking classes.

Subsequently, a complaint was received at the grievance redressal cell set up by the school and mass education department.

“We took the decision (to disengage the teacher) following an inquiry made after the complaint was lodged,” said a senior official of the department.

A senior official from the Directorate of Elementary Education had led the probe.

Four more persons, including the headmaster of the school, the block resource coordinator and the cluster resource coordinator, have been suspended.

The teacher in question is Madhusmita Tripathy, a siksha sahayak from the Amrit Manohi primary school in Bhadrak.

According to sources, Tripathy hardly turned up for classes, but continued to sign the attendance registers.

“The teacher remained absent, but used to regularly draw her salary. This could not have happened without the connivance of the headmaster and others,” the official said.

She added that the move would serve as a warning to erring teachers and help curb the problems of absenteeism, especially in rural areas.