Alleging headmaster sought bribe to give away higher secondary admit cards, students ransack school

Higher Secondary students from a school in Murshidabad vandalised school property, alleging that the headmaster demanded money in exchange of the admit cards from them.

After he was informed, State Education minister Partha Chatterjee instructed the district administration to look into the matter. The Education department instructed the District Magistrate to provide the reasons behind this incident.

The students of Murshidabad's Parulia Haricharan High School ran rampant after their headmaster allegedly demanded Rs 300 from each of those students to give away the High Secondary examination admit cards.

"We have been repeatedly requesting the headmaster to give us the admit cards but he denied giving them time and again. On Wednesday, he demanded Rs 300 from us," alleged the students.

The teachers and the non-teaching staff escaped the spot as the unruly students started to ransack the school properties. The students were seen damaging the almirah, glasses, windowpane, centre table and chairs. They were also seen throwing out books from the teachers' room. They damaged the ceiling fans, blackboards and the flower pots.

The errant students were also seen breaking glasses with wickets and bamboo rods. Soon after the incident, most of the students from lower classes, who were not involved in the melee escaped from the school along with their teachers and guardians. Policemen from the local police station reached the spot to control the situation.

The Block Development Officer (BDO) rushed to the spot, but the students paid no heed to his request to stop the rampage. The district administration learnt that the accused students would appear in the forthcoming Higher Secondary examination.

The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) was informed about the incident. The council strongly reacted at the attitude of the school authority. The council said, taking money during the distribution of admit card is illegal.