When Class X student Sushmita Kumari wants to eat rotis in the evening, she has to make them herself.

She is not alone. The 280 girls enrolled at the Government Other Backward Class (OBC) Girls' Residential 10+2 School face the same kind of hardships. They live in a damp, cramped, three-storeyed building with drain water flowing near the entrance and stench a constant companion. And they have to make do with just four functional toilets of the total six in the building.

So when deputy chief minister Tejaswi arrived for a surprise inspection of the school on Tuesday, Sushmita fought off the nervousness of speaking in front of a roomful of people and stood up for her and her schoolmates' rights.

"There are no teachers of economics and geography in the school and we have to study on our own," Sushmita said as the deputy chief minister listened.

She went on to tell him that they get non-vegetarian food only twice a month instead of the once-a-week promised by the government.

Sushmita pointed out the positives too. The three school cooks, whom she called "aunties", were helpful, she said.

The minister called the girls to the terrace of the building, where the school food is cooked and consumed. It was well past lunchtime and some food was still left - coarse, parboiled rice, watery dal, and aloo-gobi (potato and cauliflower) in which only potatoes were visible.

Roshni Kumari, another Class X student, said a bigger building was needed so that classrooms and staying rooms could be separate and the girls could play outdoor games. "We are unable to even play indoor games," she added.

The 16-room building at Park Road in Kadamkuan was seized in 2011 from Girish Kumar, a clerk at Patna collectorate accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his income. Chief minister Nitish Kumar had ordered opening of the residential school the same year, as part of his promise of utilising the assets of the corrupt for education.

"I have directed that the two non-functional toilets should be immediately made functional," Tejaswi said. "Computer literacy should be provided. The quality of food should be improved and green vegetables should be included. We have to take care of facilities like this school, meant for students coming from the weaker sections of the society."