Tagore’s Sahaj Path found being used to wrap groceries
21 March 2012
MALDA, 21 MARCH: At a time when hundreds of school children are yet to
receive Rabindranath Tagore’s Sahaj Path, the textbooks were seen being
sold as scrap paper, used to pack grocery items in English Bazar in
Malda.
The scam unearthed recently has created a sensation in primary education circles. Administrative officials have vowed to investigate the matter. Some residents first noticed this in a local grocery shop of Mr Sagar Mandal. Mr Mandal was busy selling items like muri and chanachur using paper packets made of pages from Sahaj Path.
A resident, Mr Bappa Roy, said: “My son studies in the Class I at a local primary school. He and many of his classmates have not yet received their textbooks. The teachers keep saying that the government has not yet supplied the books. But when I went to a local grocery shop to buy biscuits I found with horror that it was packed with the pages from Sahaj Path.”
It is all the more astonishing as the book is not supposed to be sold in the open market and each of the books carries the serial number and the printer’s name: Cooch Behar Zilla Parishad Press. Similar complaints were made by the students like Moumita Sarkar and Rani Halder. Mr Mandal conceded that he had bought 5 kg of books at Rs 10 per kg from a godown in the market. He said: “All these are new edition (2012) books and there are huge number of books dumped at the godown.”
District inspector of schools (primary) Tripti Guha was handed such a book. She, too, expressed her shock. She said: “I can’t think how these books reached the open market.” She wasted no time in visiting the godown and verified the allegation. Ordering seizure of the dumped books, Ms Guha said: “We cannot find out how the books reached the market by just checking the serial numbers. Only the authorised circles could clarify to which schools the books were issued.” She promised a probe into the entire scam. The CPI(M)-affiliated All Bengal Primary Teachers Association (ABPTA) was vocal against this fiasco. “When the books could not be supplied to all the students, how can they be available in the market? We demand a thorough inquiry and exemplary punishment for the culprits.” sns
The scam unearthed recently has created a sensation in primary education circles. Administrative officials have vowed to investigate the matter. Some residents first noticed this in a local grocery shop of Mr Sagar Mandal. Mr Mandal was busy selling items like muri and chanachur using paper packets made of pages from Sahaj Path.
A resident, Mr Bappa Roy, said: “My son studies in the Class I at a local primary school. He and many of his classmates have not yet received their textbooks. The teachers keep saying that the government has not yet supplied the books. But when I went to a local grocery shop to buy biscuits I found with horror that it was packed with the pages from Sahaj Path.”
It is all the more astonishing as the book is not supposed to be sold in the open market and each of the books carries the serial number and the printer’s name: Cooch Behar Zilla Parishad Press. Similar complaints were made by the students like Moumita Sarkar and Rani Halder. Mr Mandal conceded that he had bought 5 kg of books at Rs 10 per kg from a godown in the market. He said: “All these are new edition (2012) books and there are huge number of books dumped at the godown.”
District inspector of schools (primary) Tripti Guha was handed such a book. She, too, expressed her shock. She said: “I can’t think how these books reached the open market.” She wasted no time in visiting the godown and verified the allegation. Ordering seizure of the dumped books, Ms Guha said: “We cannot find out how the books reached the market by just checking the serial numbers. Only the authorised circles could clarify to which schools the books were issued.” She promised a probe into the entire scam. The CPI(M)-affiliated All Bengal Primary Teachers Association (ABPTA) was vocal against this fiasco. “When the books could not be supplied to all the students, how can they be available in the market? We demand a thorough inquiry and exemplary punishment for the culprits.” sns
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