Abodh Sharma
JAMMU, Sept 16: At a time when thousands of students across the state are facing uncertain future because of huge losses to their schools in recent floods, there are others which have been unaffected by floods, but jeopardized by the vested elements.
Jammu Cooperative School in Dilli, run by the Department of Cooperatives is one such school which has been reduced to shambles due to complete administrative disarray it has been in. Sources revealed to ET that school, which was founded by noted academician and former Vice Chancellor of Jammu university who passed away last week has changed nine principals in two years due to the complete administrative anarchy. The department of Cooperatives has failed to put in place the board that is primarily responsible for the administration of the school, four years after it was disbanded and the administration of the school is now overseen by Rakesh Thappa, an officer of the rank of Kashmir Administrative Services. The principals hired and fired in last two years include Sarita Sharma, Ravi Kumar, Vijay Kumari, Hussain Mohammad, Anuradha, Suchitra Chouhan and the incumbent Veenu Malhotra.
Sources disclose that owing to the anomalies in the administrative set up, the Principal has been made accountable to clerk level officials, who have been designated as managers and hold all financial powers. Alleging misappropriation of funds in the school, a source revealed that the school is in shambles today due to the interference of these officials, who take all decisions making the institution of Principal dummy and defunct . "These officials in nexus with the higher ups in the department sack every Principal that does not fall in line to further their vested interests and nine principals have been shuffled in last two years," said a source adding that even the provident fund of the teachers and employees is not credited in time, and employees apprehend that there could be misappropriation of their hard earned money.
Meanwhile, another employee told ET that Raman Bhalla, local MLA and Minister had allocated 10 lakh rupees for the school, but nobody knows what happened to that money. "The state of the school has deteriorated further despite the allocation of huge money by the Minister and there is no transparency despite its being a cooperative institution" he added.
Repeated attempts to contact the administrator on his cellphone number 9419442255 failed. |
