Rayagada: Students of a residential school for tribals walked over 25 km to tell the district authorities in Odisha’s Rayagada about various problems faced by them.
As per information, at least 14 students from Class 5 to 8 of the Badaraising Ashram School started their journey in the early hours proceded towards the office of the Rayagada district collector.
The students reached the office in the morning to meet the collector and apprise him about their grievances.
Alleging that the standard of teaching in the school was poor, one of the students reportedly said that the quality of food in the hostel was very low. Most of the teachers are not competent enough to teach in the class, he claimed.
While proper food is not being served at the hostel, students face a lot of problem as they are not allowed to keep water bottles with them inside the room, they claimed.
Apart from poor quality of food, the hostel lacks basic facilities and the students have to suffer because of irregularities, they claimed. Though an official visited the school recently, the students failed to muster the courage to inform him about their problems due to pressure from the school authorities, they said.
As the situation turned from bad to worse, the students decided to visit the collectorate and lodge a complaint, they said.
Stating that the statements of the students have been recorded, an official said appropriate steps would be taken after a thorough probe into the whole episode.
The circumstances in which the students left the school in the wee hours and walked all the way to the collectorate would also be looked into, officials said.