A group of people under the influence of alcohol today vandalised the administrative department of Harkapur Secondary School at Benighat VDC-3, Dhading, and manhandled teachers. The intoxicated people had thrashed headteacher Pahalman Shrestha, teacher Sharmila Tripathi and parent Krishna Narayan Shrestha and vandalised the administration department. Headteacher Shrestha said the group had entered the school for a discussion, but thrashed the teachers and vandalised the office. A school source said that people pretending to be parents had gone on a rampage after as many as 16 students were not allowed to appear in this year’s SLC examination for the school’s failure to receive permission to add a class. To be eligible to appear for this year’s SLC examination, registration forms should have been filled out almost 19 months ago. But the school had received the licence to run Grade IX only 12 months ago. Consequently, 16 students were not allowed to appear in this year’s SLC examination.

After the school received permission to run Grade IX late, a joint meeting of parents, teachers, students and school management committee had reached agreement seven months ago. The school said that some elements had tried to revive the already agreed-upon the issue. School management committee Chairman Raj Kumar Shrestha said the school had agreed to teach the students one year and fill out the SLC registration form for free. They are studying in Grade IX this year. Headteacher Shrestha said that some people in the guise of the parents were hell-bent on trying to revive the decision. Inspector Hemant Bhandari said they would launch an investigation into the incident.