Around 100 students are waiting every year to get a seat at the prestigious Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) here in Gajapati district, but the authorities of the school intentionally keep 40 seats vacant every year for reason best known to them.
As a result, 40 meritorious students of the tribal dominated and Maoist infested district fail to get seats in the one and only JNV in the district.
Out of the total 80 seats of the school, the authorities allow 40 students for joining every year and close the joining process without filling the rest seats, sources said. It is a matter of probe that why the JNV authorities keep the seats vacant violating the Government guideline issued in 2010-11 to fill up all the seats, political leaders demanded.
Gajapati district BJP president Tripati Nayak said the Government and the JNV authorities are playing with the future of 40 talented students every year by defying the Right to Education Act, though the Central and State Governments have been saying that they are developing plans and sanctioning enough funds for the development of education in the district.
Nayak said the District Collector and chiefs of all the schools in the district should keep vigil on the affairs of the school authorities.
“If the JNV refuses to fill rest 40 seats this year, BJP would file a PIl in the court, threatened Nayak.
Former sarpanch of Kerandi panchayat Sunil Mohapatra and BJP’s Parlakhemundi town president Manas Ranjan Biswal said the education scenario in the district could be ascertained after knowing the situation of the JNV at the district headquarters.
“If the State or Central Governments and the district administration don’t take appropriate action regarding the matter, we would protest the irregularities in the school,” Biswal said.