Protesters outside the Khandagiri police station. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, April 3: Students, their parents and teachers of an English medium school today protested in front of Khandagiri police station after the management closed the school down indefinitely.

The parents alleged that their wards had been suffering while the management and the staff were fighting amongst themselves. The protesters ended the demonstration following an assurance from the school’s management that a meeting would be held tomorrow in an attempt to open the school from Thursday.

Around 100 parents along and their wards had come to the school this morning to find it closed and a notice about the school being closed indefinitely stuck on the gate. The parents protested there and later, some teachers joined them. Later, all of them protested in front of the police station demanding action against the school authorities.

On March 31, the Mahila police had arrested a member of the school’s governing body for sexually harassing a female teacher. The accused, Vivek B. Bhuyar, is now in judicial custody. Some staff members and parents had demonstrated in front of the Mahila police station that day demanding an inquiry into the matter.

In the wake of the incident, the school authorities closed the school indefinitely. “The school did not inform us properly. We only got to know about it when we came to the school. They did not even inform the police about this,” said Mitu Mohanty, a parent.

Some parents came to know of the school’s closure yesterday when they went to the school with their children. “Our wards are suffering while the school authorities are fighting among themselves. We want the matter to be resolved soon so that our children can study properly,” said Prakash Rout, a parent.

The protesting teachers and parents held the principal responsible for all the trouble and demanded her resignation. The teachers threatened that if principal Rojina Mohanty did not resign, they would quit their jobs. The principal did not comment on this matter.

A senior police officer of Khandagiri police station said the school had lately been hit by internal trouble. “In the past, we had arrested four guardians for creating problems during an event organised on campus following a complaint by the school authorities. Today we told the protesters to talk to the chairman of the school’s governing body. The chairman assured them that she would come to Bhubaneswar and settle the matter tomorrow,” said the police officer.

As the matter did not involve criminal activities, the police stayed away from the issue but facilitated a talk among the stakeholders.