Nobody knows about number of tribal Children in KISS

Nobody knows about number of tribal Children in KISS, Odisha

•      None but only  Achyut Samant, founder  of KISS ( Kalinga Institute  of Social Science)  and BJD MP  claims  of  30,000 tribal children  studying in KISS  tribal  school.
• Govt. of Odisha , forget public,    is not aware  about  number  of  tribal  children   staying  and reading  in KISS  tribal School, Bhubaneswar
•   No Govt. Department  is aware  about  number of tribal students  of KISS school. 
•  Authority  of KISS  has  not  shared  any  information  about number  of children reading  in tribal  school.
•   OSCPCR and Child Welfare Committee, the monitoring statutory bodies are not aware about it.
•  District Welfare Officer, a designated monitoring officer for tribal schools is also not aware  about  it.

·         It is astonishing that how such a reputed institution maintains utmost secrecy  about genuineness  of the number  of tribal children reading in the school.

Dear friends

KISS ( Kalinga Institute  of Social Science) , an NGO running  tribal  school in Patia, Bhubaneswar which  is founded  by Achyut Samant ,  BJD MP and a front-ranking  land grabber  in the state .  He  has given  public statement  several times  that  total  number  of 30,000  children  are  housed  in KISS tribal  school. They are  provided  free lodging, fooding, shelter  and education  in the KISS campus. To  verify  the authenticity  of information about  exact number of tribal  children reading in the  school, RTI Application  was  submitted  to the PIO, Office of Secretary, KISS  to  provide  details of  information  about  number  of children  reading  in the school. The Authority  of KISS  refused  to divulge  any  information, as  they  do not  come  under RTI Act. Now  the matter  is  for  consideration  in the  court of Odisha Information Commission.

However,  to get  the information from Govt. sources , on 4.1.19, I had filed  three  RTI Applications to the PIOs of Department of   Women and Child Development,  Department  of School  and Mass Education  and Department of SC and ST Welfare, Govt. of Odisha   seeking  information about  number of children reading  in KISS Tribal school.

On 11.1.19, the PIO, Department of  School  and Mass Education  forwarded  my RTI Application  to the PIO, Department of  SC and ST Welfare  to provide  information to provide information, as it is  not  available with them.

The PIO, Department  of  Women  and Child development  forwarded   RTI Application to the PIO, Department of SC and ST welfare to provide  the information. Clubbing together all RTI Applications, the PIO, Department of SC and ST welfare  forwarded  the RTI Applications to District   welfare Office ( DWO), Khurda  to  provide information.  Astonishingly,  the said information is not  available  with with DWO, Khurda.    On 1.2.19, the PIO, office of DWO, Khurda has transferred my application to the KISS, Bhubaneswar  which never  divulges  any information to anybody.

Why the  Departments  should keep the  information ?

 As  per  the  Right to education Act,  the  School  and Mass  Education  Department  is the  nodal department  for sanctioning  NOC  and issuing certificate  of registration  to the private schools  every year.   Block Education Officers have been designated by Govt. of Odisha  to monitor  these private schools. Astonishingly, BEO, Khurda  has never  visited  KISS Tribal  school and has not  gathered  any  information  about   number  of the  tribal children staying  there  for  which  the  information is not  available  with the School  and Mass education department.

As per  provision of  Juvenile Justice  Act, the NGOs  housing children and running  child  care  institutions  should  be registered  with  the  Govt. i.e., Department  of SC and ST Welfare  and District Welfare  officer.  The  District  Collector  is the  monitoring  authority  to  monitor  and inspect  the Child  Care  Institutions.  But  the District  Collector of Khurda  has never  visited  KISS to inspect  the same.    

As    DWO, Khurda  is the  monitoring authority  of  all  tribal  schools, the DWO must  have access  to  the  said information. So  the DWO  need not  transfer RTI Application.   Rather  the DWO, as monitoring  authority   should   collect  the said  information  from KISS  and provide  to me  as per section 2 (f)  of the RTI Act without  forwarding same under  section 6(3) of the RTI Act. 

Nexus  of  State  administration and  KISS  authority  is quite  guessed  for  which  no Govt. officer  ever visits  the  school  to discharge  their  function as monitoring  authority  under RTE Act  and JJ Act.

This  is horrible  state  of afafirs  of Nabin Patnaik Govt.  in Odisha which claims a transparent  Government  without any transparency .

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date- 23.2.19