Ilam: Samata Shiksha Niketan is conducting classes despite repeated calls by the District Education Office (DEO) to stop defying its directive.

The school started conducting classes since June, 2011 without registering at the DEO. The school management bought local Singhabahini School -- running classes from the sixth to the 10th grade -- for one million rupees after the DEO started acting tough but it has yet to get permission for running primary level classes.

“We found no board at the school when we reached there with the police to remove the board. There was no one at the school,” said Under-secretary at the DEO Gehendra Dahal who reached the school at three Thursday afternoon.

The DEO said the school removed the notice it had posted at the school´s gate. “We will take further steps after the meeting of education committee,” said District Education Officer Mahendra Prasad Poudel.

Principal at the school Benup Bhattarai said the school is in the process of getting permission to run primary level classes.

“We could not meet the DEO team at the school Thursday as the school closed early during the examinations,” Bhattarai explained.

The education committee had given permission to run classes up to the first grade in April, 2011 and it can only upgrade by a level every year according to Education Regulations. But Samata started to take classes up to the seventh grade.

The school management says that it runs with financial assistance from donor agencies and individuals but DEO claims that the school has yet to furnish papers of permission from the government and DEO to take financial assistance as per the Education Regulations.

source:myrepublica,13 jan 2011