Mohana: As many as 32 inmates of Mohana-based Antarba Government Girls’ High School fled the hostel premises following various problems here in Gajapati district Thursday night.
All of them are Class IX students, it is learnt. The school wore a deserted look Friday morning. The girls brought to light various irregularities at the hostel and school through a hand-written poster and pasted it on the hostel wall before fleeing.
In the poster, they mentioned the reasons for leaving the hostel. Among these, there was no understanding among the staff members who were not teaching well and the headmaster was not heeding their complaints and treating their grievances lightly.
At least 460 girl students of Class I to Class X reside in the hostel. “The girls have jumped the hostel boundary wall and walked to their villages through a forest late in the night,” the school authorities said. Locals blamed the negligence of the school administration and raised questions about the security system in the school.
Fearing backlash, the school authorities have used every method to bring back the girls. After search, 15 of them were brought back, it is learnt. The rest of the girls will be brought back soon, block welfare officer Seemanchal Behera said.
The girls had earlier demanded removal of assistant teacher Gitanjali Senapati from her post of hostel in-charge in a letter to the district collector. However, she is still working as an assistant teacher and the hostel in-charge which was suspected as the reason for the girls to flee the hostel. PNN