Teacher faked abduction to stop merger of schools in Bulandshahr, suspended
On July 7,the head of the school education department learned that Ankit Kumar had been 'kidnapped' by villagers protesting plans to merge his school, home to just 30 students, with another, located 1.5 km at Chithera village. Education officials dispatched the block officer to verify the report and secure his release.
Basic Shiksha Adhikari (Bulandshahr) Laxmikant Pandey told The Indian Express that the fake kidnapping of the teacher came to light when an investigation began into the case. 'There are 30 students at the primary school and we were planning to shift them to a primary school at Chithera village, which is 1.5km away from Shakarpur,' said Pandey.
'He had convinced villagers to kidnap him. He had told them that once the two schools were merged their children would not be able to attend classes anymore as the distance would increase. The villagers then kidnapped him thinking that the news of his kidnapping will stop the merger,' said the official.
His fake kidnapping came to light when the team of education officials started questioning villagers. 'We received information that Kumar was kidnapped by a group of villagers and was locked inside a classroom. Soon, I rushed the team of officials to rescue him. After convincing villagers for nearly half an hour, they released Kumar,' he said.
Pandey said that Kumar on Monday submitted an affidavit seeking forgiveness for his act. 'It was a drama to stop the merger. We had prepared the list of 382 schools of which 184 have been merged. A similar process was going on at Shikarpur as well. I had suspended the teacher with immediate effect but on Monday, he submitted an affidavit seeking forgiveness for his act. We are looking into this matter,' he said.
The merging of schools began after the Uttar Pradesh government began an initiative to pair every primary school with low attendance to nearby educational facilities to make the education system more functional and viable, aligning with the goals of the New Education Policy, 2020.
Neetika Jha is a Correspondent with The Indian Express. She covers crime, health, environment as well as stories of human interest, in Noida, Ghaziabad and western UP. When not on the field she is probably working on another story idea. On weekends, she loves to read fiction over a cup of coffee. The Thursday Murder club, Yellow Face and Before the Coffee Gets Cold were her recent favourites. She loves her garden as much as she loves her job. She is an alumnus of Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. ... Read More
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
37 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Langur that was attacked by a mob in Bokaro had become ‘a serious public threat'
The langur that was attacked by a mob in Jharkhand's Bokaro during a rescue operation had become a 'public threat' and had attacked several people, forest officials have said. This comes days after a video that shows a mob of locals attacking a langur with sticks in Bokaro's Sector 11 drew outrage, with animal rights activists calling for action. The incident occurred when a team of forest officials were trying to capture the animal. According to the forest officials, the incident was a result of 'pent-up' anger over growing attacks over the past few weeks. Residents of the residential colony had repeatedly complained to the Bokaro Steel Limited (BSL) township management but no action had been taken, officials said. The animal had left 15-20 people 'half-dead' over the past few weeks, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rajnish Kumar said, adding that anyone seen in the video would be named in an official police complaint. 'The langur was extremely aggressive. It had assaulted nearly 15-20 people and left some of them half-dead. The langur was so aggressive that it started throwing people to the ground violently. People were terrified and frustrated,' he said. Officials claimed that on that day, a team of forest officials from Ranchi was trying to capture the animal. 'The langur was briefly restrained but tried to escape, some residents lashed out in anger and attacked it. We intervened immediately, and the rescue was completed within a minute,' the DFO said. The langur is currently under medical observation at Bokaro's Jawaharlal Nehru Biological Park and is stated to be recovering well. 'There are no major external injuries. It is moving around normally now. If needed, we may send it to Ranchi for further examination,' he said, adding: 'The incident underscores the volatile intersection of human-animal conflict and public emotion, there is a need for sensitive yet lawful intervention.' Shubham Tigga hails from Chhattisgarh and studied journalism at the Asian College of Journalism. He previously reported in Chhattisgarh on Indigenous issues and is deeply interested in covering socio-political, human rights, and environmental issues in mainland and NE India. Presently based in Pune, he reports on civil aviation, other transport sectors, urban mobility, the gig economy, commercial matters, and workers' unions. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn ... Read More
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Bihar history-sheeter with Rs 50,000 bounty shot dead in encounter in UP's Hapur
The Noida Special Task Force (STF) and the Bihar Police killed Dabloo Yadav, a wanted criminal carrying a reward of Rs 50,000, after a gunfight during a joint operation to nab him in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district Monday morning. The shootout occurred in the Simbhaoli police station area, where the team intercepted Yadav after the police received a tip-off about his movement. The police said Yadav first opened fire at them, leading to a retaliatory firing in which he was shot dead. Yadav was a native of Sahebpur Kamal in the Begusarai district of Bihar and had been absconding for months in connection with the kidnapping and murder of local Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Rakesh Kumar. The police said Yadav allegedly abducted Kumar, the party's 20-point block president, from the Sahebpur Kamal police station area by Dabloo in April and later killed him. Kumar's body was later found in a river in the Diara region. 'A reward of Rs 50,000 had been declared for his arrest. He was a key suspect in several other heinous crimes across Bihar,' the Bihar Police said in their statement to the press. 'Yadav was on the run for a long time. Acting on intelligence inputs, our team reached Uttar Pradesh and coordinated with Noida STF. During the operation in Hapur, the accused opened fire and was killed in the retaliatory firing,' the police added.
New Indian Express
6 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Country should retain Bharatiya identity, says RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat
KOCHI: 'Viksit Bharat' should be economically strong and contribute to the development of the world, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said in Kochi on Sunday. Addressing the Gyan Sabha organised by the Siksha Sanskrithi Utthan Nyas at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, he said it will help earn respect. 'India should grow strong and economically powerful. Viksit Bharat will not attack any country. In fact, we never conquered any country in history,' he said. Talking about 'Bharatiyata in education', the theme of the Gyan Sabha, Bhagwat said the country should retain its identity. 'Bharat is a proper noun and shouldn't be translated. Will you translate the name Gopal to cow herder in English? The identity of Bharat is deeply rooted in its tradition and preserving the identity will help to earn respect. Bharat should be Bharat whether in writing or speech. A lion will get respect only in the wild and not in circus,' he said. Pointing out that the purpose of education is to help a person develop personality, Bhagwat said a person should be able to express his thoughts and feelings. 'Bharatiya education system and our tradition teaches to share and sacrifice for others. Our tradition is deeply rooted in culture and we should know the culture to impart it to our children,' he said. Governor Rajendra Arlekar, who presided over the function, said the New Education Policy (NEP) is the first attempt by India to decolonise our education system. 'We were under the influence of colonial thought, which changed our thought process. The NEP is different from what was being taught in the country. People say India is a golden bird. But we should be a roaring lion and the roar should be heard across the world,' Arlekar said. Siksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas national secretary Atul Kothari and Association of Indian Universities secretary general Pankaj Mittal were among those who spoke on the occasion.
