Patna: The alleged molestation of a Class II student has sent shockwaves among parents and guardians, many of whom said they are scared of sending their children to Holy Cross International School.

The school at Lekhanagar opened as usual on Thursday morning, but was shut for the day because of thin attendance of students. Thirty minutes after the school opened, a large number of parents started gathering outside the premises around 8.30am. The parents were demanding action against the school director and principal, and soon the situation turned volatile and the school administration decided to close the school for the day.

The school administration had a tough time in getting the students out of the school, as a large number of parents had gathered outside the premises. The students' exit was followed by the teachers' exit.

Some parents claimed that earlier too staff and teachers have misbehaved with students but the school administration never took any action.

"My three daughters study in the school, including my younger daughter who is in Class II. She told me about the activities of sweeper Ramji Prasad - that he had a habit of touching students, especially girls," said Manju Lata. "On several occasions we had informed the school administration about the behaviour of the sweeper but the school administration has not taken any action." She said some teachers, including male ones, also behave inappropriately with students.

Kishore Kumar, whose daughter too is a student of the school, said: "I had come to know from the newspaper that some incident has occurred in the school. The incident is very shocking as we send our kids to school assuming that the teachers and the principal will take care of them, but such an incident makes us insecure."

Many other parents complained that the school administration, especially the principal and director, behave rudely whenever parents approach with a complaint. Some parents vowed to shift their wards to other schools from the next academic session.