The children outside the school on Tuesday. (Palash Debnath)

Krishnagar, July 30: At least 13 children allegedly forced to sit on a fast by their parents fell unconscious in a Nadia village this morning.

The protest in front of the primary school at Golaidori-Battala, about 130km from Calcutta, was to demand a high school in the area.

The nearest high school now is about 8km away.

After the children fell ill, the district administration lodged FIRs against the parents charging them with “cruelty”. The hunger strike was called off after that.

Nakashipara block development officer Subol Mahajan said about 300 children were not allowed to eat for over 18 hours. Many of them had cried for food last night. “This is the cruellest agitation I have seen. The guardians will have to pay the price for it.”

Mahajan and block medical officer Vivek Das admitted 13 boys to the Bethuadahari rural hospital.

Nearly 800 villagers had marched to the school yes- terday morning demanding a high school. They asked the teachers to leave, locked up the rooms and sat on a fast.

Most children in the Muslim-dominated village cannot study beyond Class IV because the high school is too far.

“The chief minister says he wants to upgrade the education standards of Muslims. Does he know 400 children here had to drop out in the past two years because they could not travel 8km daily to a high school? Some of them were so poor that they couldn’t afford bicycles,” said Zakir Mondal, whose brother is in Class II.

A farm labourer and a Class V dropout, Zakir is worried about Rafikul’s future. “I want to educate my brother. But I don’t know whether I will be able to do so. I will have to pay Rs 20 daily to send him to the high school. I earn about Rs 30 a day,” he said.

Mansoor Sheikh’s son Fakir left school two years ago. Fakir helps him on the field.

A one-way rickshaw ride to the high school through bumpy village roads costs Rs 5.

In Calcutta, school education minister Partha De promised a school to the village. “The residents will have to submit an application with the BDO. We will build a junior high school,” he said in Calcutta.