Balrampur School Probe Over Asaram-Photo Book; Report in 3 Days
Balrampur, October 29, 2026: A row over a book featuring Asaram Bapu's photograph has put a government school in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur-Ramanujganj district under the spotlight. Authorities have removed the school principal and ordered a detailed inquiry, with the report due within three days.
The matter concerns Swami Atmanand Government Excellence School at Raghunathnagar in Wadrafnagar block. Middle school children were given a book called 'Sanskar Sarita'. Parents objected to its distribution, and the dispute escalated after they raised concerns with the school.
The issue surfaced when students brought the 'Sanskar Sarita' book home from school. Parents said the children told them that the book had been distributed in class and that they were asked to read it in preparation for an exam. Seeing Asaram's photograph on the cover, family members questioned why such material had been handed out and held the school management responsible.
Parents have said that a government school should verify the content, purpose and permission of any book before it is given to children. According to them, that basic step appears to have been missed in this case.
According to parents, an organisation connected to Asaram had provided the books to the school principal, who then passed them on to students. They have asked whether approval for the distribution had been taken from senior education officials.
The questions over who arranged the books, what the distribution was meant to achieve, and whether official permission existed have not been answered yet. These claims are yet to be verified through the inquiry, and no conclusions have been reached.
Despite the books being collected back in large numbers after objections, parents remain dissatisfied. They have sought a fair investigation and action against those responsible for the distribution.
The parents' demands also include clear responsibility for selecting and distributing books in government educational institutions. They stress that any book must be checked for suitability and approved for distribution before reaching students.
District Education Officer Narendra Nirapure has removed the principal in view of the seriousness of the case. The block education officer has been asked to examine the full sequence of events and submit a report within three days.
The inquiry will need to establish how the books reached the school, who decided on their distribution, whether departmental permission was in place, and the circumstances in which students were told to read the book for their examination.
Further steps will depend on the findings of the report. For now, the episode has raised questions about the process used to choose and distribute study material in government schools across the state.