Child Rights Panel reviews schools

PARADIP: A team of officials from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), New Delhi, led by its member-secretary Yogesh Dubey visited various schools in the proposed Posco steel project area. They reviewed the condition of four schools at the site which were vacated by forces a few months back.Police had occupied most of the classrooms in Balitutha Upper Primary School, Bijipur Upper Primary School, Kujang High School and Badagabapur Primary School at Badagabapur village for more than a year.  They were deployed at the project site to maintain law and order during the land acquisition process.With the students enjoying a forced indefinite holiday, the worried parents had then requested the district collector, Education Department authority and also filed a PIL in the Orissa High Court seeking shifting of policemen from the classrooms. The NCPCR team had also requested the Chief Secretary to withdraw police forces after visiting Balitutha school.After visiting the four schools, the team expressed satisfaction over the state-of-affairs and thanked the Chief Secretary and District Collector for shifting the forces. “The students are back in schools and no longer feeling scared,” Dubey said.Later, he distributed dress materials and sweets among the students. District Collector Narayan Chandra Jena and District Project Co-ordinator of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan Nirmal Chandra Das were present.