Patapur: Tension ran high after a lady teacher of Patapur Nodal UP School under Sanakhemundi block in Ganjam district was caught selling textbooks, of Class I to VIII, to hawkers over 200 kg at Rs 6 per kg, Saturday.
The incident sparked tension among the guardians and villagers as they opposed the teacher Savitri Devi bringing the textbooks in an auto-rickshaw and trying to sell them to three hawkers. They caught her when the hawkers were handing over Rs 1,400 for 200 kg of textbooks to her.
The books on— mathematics, language, environment, computer and jokes— were published by the School and Mass Education department of the state government in 2018. The teacher fled the scene while the books were left lying outside the hawkers shop on roadside. Later, the angry guardians gheraoed the school premises demanding an investigation.
On being informed, Berhampur sub-collector Sindhe Dattatreya Bhausaheb directed the district education officer Sanatan Panda for an investigation. The DEO, block education officer Mukund Chandra Padhi and additional BEO Kailash Chandra Panigrahi rushed to the spot but the villagers gheraoed them demanding an impartial probe and stringent action.
They sought to know as to how the teacher sold the textbooks in broad daylight meant for students. The BEO called the woman hawker, the teacher and the headmaster and initiated an inquiry.
During enquiry, the teacher was found to have sold the textbooks without informing the headmaster. When questioned, the lady teacher tried to downplay the incident. She said that the books were over three years old and taking up much space for which snakes and frogs had sneaked into the classrooms. The villagers relented after local police rushed to the spot and seized the books.