Now, a school mourns 'demise' of Atal Bihari Vajpayee; headmaster suspended

Bhubaneswar, Sep 14: In a major blunder, headmaster of a primary school in Odisha's Balasore district had allegedly declared holiday on Friday proclaiming the news of 'demise' of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Vajpayee, who has not been making public appearances due to his illness, is very much alive. The school teachers and students, reportedly, observed a condolence meet on Friday. After this the school was closed as per the headmaster's instruction.

As per a report published in The Indian Express, Kamalakanta Das, headmaster of Budakhunta Upgraded Primary School in Oupada block of Balasore district, was on Friday attending a training programme of teachers in another school at Santaragadia from where he rang up a Sikshya Sahayak of his school Prafulla Behera and asked him to close the school as the former Prime Minister was dead.

The incident came to light on Sunday when a few agitated locals reached the district collector's office and complained against the headmaster. They even demanded the sacking of the headmaster.

Collector Sanatan Mallik was quoted by the Indian Express as saying, "He [Das] will be placed under suspension and if required criminals proceedings will also be initiated against the headmaster."

The DM has also ordered a probe against Das.

Earlier in July, in a similar incident, Jharkhand's education minister Neera Yadav made a mother of all blunders when she paid a floral tribute to the former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, thinking him to be dead.

The shocking incident happened at an event in Koderma, where she was invited as the chief guest, to inaugurate smart classes. Before the event started, Yadav paid homage to Kalam's photograph.

Dr Kalam passed away on July 27, following which the minister was in a state of shock.

OneIndia News