Jharigaon: Around 140 inmates of the Sanatemera Government Upgraded High School hostel in Nabarangpur district left the campus Thursday in protest against poor infrastructure, substandard food and inadequate sanitation facilities at the residential school.
However, they were persuaded to return following the intervention of authorities. The students left the hostel with their bags before classes began and walked towards their homes. They covered nearly 10 km before school authorities intervened. Headmistress Rajalakshmi Maharana, additional BEO Dasharath Gond, cluster resource centre coordinator Padarabinda Mahalik and welfare extension officer Amit Kumar Nayak held discussions with the students.
They were taken to Dukalupada Government Upper Primary School, where teachers served them rice and dalma before they were shifted back to the school in hired vehicles. The school has 361 students from Classes I to X. Although a project for a 200-bed hostel was approved in 2017, a dedicated building remains a distant dream. As a result, around 140 boarders from Jharigaon, Umarkot, Raighar and Papadahandi blocks are being accommodated in three classrooms that are being used as hostel rooms. Students alleged that they were served poor-quality food and forced to live in overcrowded conditions. They further claimed that damaged toilets and the absence of functional washrooms compelled them to walk nearly 1 km to a nearby stream to attend to nature’s call. According to the students, repeated complaints yielded no results.
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