School Kids Walk 6 Km Over Poor Amenities; Sai Orders Probe

Around 100 girl students of a government-run Eklavya residential school in Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district walked six km towards the collectorate at Ambikapur as a mark of protest against lack of basic facilities such as power, proper mess and teaching staff.

The students began the protest march from the Shivpur Eklavya residential school to the collectorate at Ambikapur in Surguja district on Monday to highlight their demands before the local district collector Ajit Vasant.

They complained that their hostel had been without electricity for the last three months, the mess was in unhygienic conditions and their science classes had hardly been held.

Assistant commissioner of tribal welfare department Lalit Shukla had rushed to Bailkota after learning about the protests by the students to persuade them to return by assuring that all their grievances would be redressed at the earliest.

The students had however refused to heed to his pleadings and insisted that they would take up their issues with the district collector directly.

Later, the district collector met the students and informed them that steps have been initiated to resolve all their issues.

One student had fainted during interaction with the district collector because of exhaustion and she was taken to the local hospital in an ambulance.

The district collector later said that he had ordered immediate restoration of power in the school hostel, appointment of guest teachers and improvement in the hygienic conditions in the mess.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai talked to the Surguja district collector over phone on the matter on Tuesday after learning about the incident.

“The chief minister has taken serious note of the incident and discussed the matter with the Surguja district collector over phone. He sought a detailed account on the matter”, a spokesman of the state government said.

Mr. Sai expressed strong displeasure that long-pending problems at the school had compelled the students to take such a step.

“It is completely unacceptable that the girls have to leave their school and walk to the collectorate to seek solutions to their basic problems”, the chief minister said.

He directed the district collector to conduct a thorough inquiry, fix responsibility and initiate action against officials found negligent.

He ordered the administration to establish an effective mechanism through which students’ grievances could be heard and resolved promptly at the school and hostel levels.

He also called for regular reviews and continuous inspections of residential schools and hostels.