A headmistress, along with the entire staff in Doda in Jammu and Kashmir, has been suspended after she declared a school holiday on the occasion of her son's wedding.
"We have placed the entire staff of Government High School, Bhagla in Bharat area of the district under suspension as they declared a holiday on Tuesday to celebrate the wedding of the son of the headmaster of the school," Director Education, Jammu, Samita Sethi, said.
Headmistress Sayeeda Anjum, without seeking permission from the authorities, had declared a holiday in the school having over 300 students in the remote area.
The Sarpanch of the village came to know that the school had posted a notice on the notice board signed by the headmistress declaring closure of the school for the wedding of her son.
The Sarpanch called up state Education Minister Naeem Akhtar who ordered an inquiry.
"As soon as we got the information, we conducted an inquiry and senior officials of the education department were sent to the school the same day. They found the school closed and the notice declaring the holiday," Sethi said.
She said preliminary inquiry held the headmistress and the staff, including teachers and those in the administration, guilty of having remained "unauthorisedly" absent from their office duty, after which they were suspended.
"After the inquiry, strict action would be taken against the erring staff members for putting the future of over 300 students at stake. They will be chargesheeted and action will be taken as per the law," Sethi said.
