Rautahat, May 19

Tension ran high at the foundation-stone laying ceremony of Janata Secondary School in Rajpur Municipality, today.

Janata Secondary School, located at Rautahat constituency-2 was selected as model school, as part of the government’s policy to turn a public school in every constituency into a model school.

Lawmaker in the House of Representatives Mohammad Aftab Alam had reached the site to lay the foundation stone of the school today. However, tension surfaced after locals obstructed the programme for a while.

The situation turned tense after former chair of the school management committee Kiran Sah and some locals created hullaballoo saying they would not allow Alam to lay the foundation stone, and manhandled Acting Head Teacher Bijay Kant Mishra. Police opened two rounds of tear gas fire and one round of fire in the air to bring the situation under control, said Rautahat SP Bhupendra Bahadur Khatri.

Police have arrested former school management committee chair Sah who was involved in the protest and launched an investigation into the incident. Sah had contested the polls for the seat of the House of Representatives from the erstwhile Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal. He was defeated by NC’s candidate Alam in the constituency. After the situation was brought under control,lawmaker Alam laid the foundation stone of the school.

For the first phase of construction of the school building the government has sanctioned Rs 9.7 million. Alam said construction of the model school would bring a sea change in education system of the village. He claimed some people with vested interest had politicised the school and played with children’s future. “The school will help educate Muslim children relying on Madrasa education,” Alam added.