The headmaster of a school in Kuibahal, under the jurisdiction of Kantabanji police station in Balangir district, died while addressing the students on the occasion of Children’s Day, the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.

He was telling the students about the life and achievements of Nehru and his contribution to nation-building when he collapsed and died subsequently. The incident took place in Balangir district in western Odisha.

The headmaster, identified as Parsuram Dash, aged 57, of Palli Bikash Panchayat (PBP) High School, was a hard taskmaster known for his strictness, discipline and love for students. The students gathered at the school premises this morning to celebrate Children’s Day. The government-aided school has only classes IX and X, with a student strength of 222.

Parsuram Dash

One of the class Xth students, Abhijit Agashti, told The Telegraph, “We all congregated at 10am in the school premises on the occasion of the Children’s Day. One after another, teachers delivered their speeches. Our head sir came on to the dais and delivered his speech narrating the life story of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, his love for the students and why we celebrate Children’s Day.”

Agasti continued, “The head sir asked us to follow the life of Nehru and to dream big like him. But suddenly, he fell and became unconscious while delivering the speech. There was confusion and chaos following that. Our teachers immediately rushed him to the hospital.”

One of the teachers, Prasanna Kumar Meher, told this newspaper, “The headmaster was declared dead at the nearby Kantabanji hospital. He died of a heart stroke.”

Meher, who was almost inconsolable, said, “Just before delivering the speech, he asked us how to initiate several steps to make the students more disciplined and devoted ourselves to the cause of the students. We had never thought he would die in
such a manner.”

On the occasion of Children’s Day people from various walks of life on Thursday turned up at different places in the state to pay homage to India’s first Prime Minister. They adorned his statue with flowers and recalled his contribution to the state.
People also recalled his words for Odisha “Yours is a small state, but you have a
big heart.”

These words of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during his last visit to Odisha in 1964, still reverberate in the minds of Odias. People recalled how he remained confined to the four walls of the Governor’s House for six days after suddenly falling sick while addressing a meeting in Bhubaneswar on January 6th, 1964.

Nehru first visited Odisha in 1936. His second visit to the state was on 12 April 1948, when he laid the foundation stone for India’s first major river valley project at Hirakud. On 13 April 1948, he laid the foundation stone for Bhubaneswar. His third visit was on 13 December 1951.

In 1955, Nehru visited Orissa once again to participate in the deliberations of the Congress Working Committee. He visited Odisha for the fifth time on January 13, 1957, and inaugurated the Hirakud dam. Later, he inaugurated the Rourkela Steel plant on 28 March 1961 and the Paradeep Port on 3 January 1962. His last visit to Odisha was in January 1964, when he laid the foundation stone for the Talcher Thermal power plant.