Sambalpur, March 24: Over 90 students of a government-run residential girls’ school for backward students, left their hostel protesting against the functioning of the school and the hostel.

The students of Kasturva Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in Bargarh district, around 180km from here, are disgruntled with the headmaster and warden of the hostel for not treating them well.

“The girls had left the hostel, but the school staff had brought them back,” said Kashiram Naik, headmaster of the school.

He added that the school had arranged a meeting of Parents Teacher Association (PTA) to discuss the issues raised by the students.

However, the parents decided to take their wards out of the school.

Naik said: “The entire episode has been orchestrated by the chairman of the village education committee, Jaminikanta Pradhan, who is under pressure to leave his post. He does not want to quit the post of chairman though there is a circular from the government that says only a natural guardian of a student currently studying in the school can hold the post of chairman,” said Kashiram Naik.

“But as Jaminikanta Pradhan is not a natural guardian, we have to remove him from the post, but he is instigating the students in order to retain his post,” he added.

The parents and the local people have a different opinion about the incident. “There is a feud between the chairman of the committee and the teachers, but the students are being victimised,” said Ramesh Barik, a resident of Kotna.