Kozhikode: The process to regularise the appointment of Aleena Benny, the primary school teacher who died by suicide on Wednesday, was on, an education department report has revealed. Aleena, who was found hanging in her room at Kodanchery, was distressed over not being paid for the past five years, her father Benny had alleged on Wednesday.

The report was submitted by the Assistant Educational Officer (AEO) of Thamarassery to the Director of General Education. The 29-year-old was a teacher at the St Joseph LP School at Kodenchery. According to the report, Aleena's previous job at Moothottikkal Nazareth LP School at Kattippara, where she worked for two years, was never approved. 

Aleena joined the Kodanchery in July 2021 to fill a vacancy created after school management fired another teacher, SB Shini. The school is run by the Corporate Education Agency under the Thamarassery Diocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. The Thamarassery AEO rejected the manager's request to approve Aleena's appointment citing the absence of supporting documents indicating Shini's removal. 

The manager then appealed to the District Education Office, but the request was rejected for multiple reasons, including the lack of anticipatory permission for Shini’s removal and clear guidelines on the criteria for addressing the backlog in appointments of specially abled candidates. Hence, her work between July 2021 and June 2023 was cancelled, the report said.

Later, in June 2024, Aleena was appointed to the Kodanchery St Joseph LP School, another institution under the same management. The process to approve this appointment was on when she took the extreme step.

Rights panel takes case suo motu
The State Human Rights Commission has registered a case suo motu on the incident. K Baijunath, a Judicial Committee member of the commission, has sought a report from the Director of General Education on the matter. The case will be considered during the commission's next sitting, scheduled for March 26 at the Kozhikode Government Guest House.

Meanwhile, the Corporate Educational Agency denied the allegation of salary non-payment. 

"A request to approve her permanent appointment was submitted to the Thamarassery AEO, but it was rejected due to technical reasons. Many teachers are working under the Agency without government approval, and requests for such approvals have already been submitted. The management provides a monthly honorarium to these teachers," said Corporate Manager Fr Joseph Varghese in a press release.

The Agency also denied reports that it had accepted money for Aleena's appointment.