Rayagada: As many as 14 students of Badaraisingi Ashram School in Rayagada district left the school hostel and walked around 25kilometres Saturday to file their grievances on school and hostel mismanagement at the Collector’s office, a source said.
According to the source, 14 students ran away from the hostel at Saturday 3:30am and walked through the forest amidst risk of wild animal attack to inform the Collector about various issues prevalent in the hostel such as poor quality of food, education and harsh punishment measures.
On being informed, the Additional District Welfare Officer reached the Collector’s office and tried to force the children to go back to school. After some time, Rayagada Block Welfare Officer Prakash Nayak called an auto rickshaw and coerced the students to return to the hostel. However, the students refused to leave the Collector’s office until their issues were resolved, the source added.
Afterwards, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste Development Minister Jagannath Saraka met the students at the Circuit House in Rayagada and offered them food.
The Minister assured the students of taking appropriate action following a thorough investigation. Later, the students were pacified and were taken back to Badaraisingi Ashram School.
One of the students alleged that food was not being provided properly in the hostel. They were not getting the promised egg and chicken meals, each twice every month. Besides, the quality of education is also not satisfactory, the students alleged.
When students complained before the school authorities, Headmaster Vishwamitra Sona used to get angry at them and allegedly threatened the students.
The source informed that, earlier, several complaints were raised against Headmaster Vishwamitra Sona. A similar complaint was raised by hostellers of Anwesha Hostel located in Katlaguda on the outskirts of Rayagada town against Sona. The students had approached the Collector about his mismanagement. Subsequently, Vishwamitra Sona was removed by the Collector. However, following his transfer from Anwesha Hostel, a similar incident has come to light within two months.
When contacted, Headmaster Vishwamitra Sona claimed that the children were being provided food properly. He refuted the allegations brought by the children who had jumped off the hostel gate to reach the Collector’s office.
Notably, around 240 students – from Class-I to Class-VIII – reside in Badaraisingi Ashram School’s hostel. All the students belong to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) categories.
PNN