A team from the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority has reached the district to probe schools that are out of operation but continue to receive government funds. Three committees have been assigned to investigate such schools in six districts—Sarlahi, Rautahat, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Bara and Parsa.

A committee led by CIAA Joint-secretary Ramkrishna Subedi is said to be studying the schools in Sarlahi and Rautahat while another led by DSP Sudarshan Koirala will inspect those in Dhanusha and Mahottari. A three-member team led by Bidurraj Giri, an under-secretary at the CIAA regional office, is bound for Bara and Parsa.

An official at the anti-corruption body said investigation has started after most of the 275 primary schools in Sarlahi are found to have been registered only to receive state funds. Millions of rupees are said to be released for such schools every year.

Officials at the District Education Office said the schools have managed to draw budget with false recommendations from resource persons and school inspectors.

Sarlahi Chief District Officer Dinesh Ghimire said security teams have been deployed with the CIAA taskforce with a view to preventing any untoward incident during investigation. “Work is under way to visit the schools in question for data collection,” Ghimire said. CIAA regional office Chief Bishwonath Dhakal said the probe team members have reached the assigned districts and started investigation after forming subcommittees there.

A CIAA team is said to have investigated 81 such schools in Sarlahi earlier. “We’ll probe the rest of the schools,” he said. More than 1,000 complaints were registered in the regional office within the three months of its establishment in Hetauda, said Dhakal.