Jubraj Kumbhar (13) of Babupali village of Sardhapali panchayat under Sonepur sadar block was denied admission at the Sardhapali Pallishree High School, solely because of his disability.
Jubraj was barely a child when he lost his leg in a road accident. But his father Balram Kumbhar never let the disability hold his son back and encouraged him to live a normal life. With constant support of his family, Jubraj successfully completed his primary and upper primary education despite being 80 per cent disabled. He is also a beneficiary of the Banishree Scholarship scheme for children with special needs, besides handicap pension of the State Government.
After successfully clearing the Class VIII examination from his village school, Jubraj applied for admission to class IX in the Shardhapali Pallishree High School along with his sister Anjali Kumbhar. However, his dream of pursuing higher education and becoming self-reliant came crashing down after the school authorities rejected his application on the ground that he was physically handicapped.
Balram said Jubraj and Anjali are twin and studied in the same class in a school. After both completed their Class VIII, headmaster of Shardhapali Pallishree High School laxmikanta Mishra asked him to get both his children enrolled in the high school. When Balram reached the school with all the required documents of both his children, the headmaster there agreed to admit Anjali but refused to Jubraj on the ground that he was physically challenged. Though Balaram assured the headmaster that he would personally ferry his son to and from the school, all his pleas fell on deaf ear.
Finding no other way, helpless Balaram, accompanied by his son, went to the office of the District Education Officer(DEO) at Sonepur on Wednesday. As the DEO was absent on that day, the office staff advised him to get in writing from the headmaster the ground in which Jubraj was denied admission. Since it was a hard task, he came back home frustrated.
District Social Welfare Officer Sunil Chandra Dash said nobody has the right to deny education to a person on ground of his disability. He assured that strict action will be taken if evidence is proved.
Meanwhile, reports said Jubraj was admitted in the Shardhapali Pallishrre High School on Friday after intervention of district Collector Dasirathi Satpathy.
The Office of the Chief Minister, Odisha in a post on Twitter stated that Jubraj has been admitted to Class IX and was attending classes.