Two protesting students at Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy on Monday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Students of Armenian origin started a “three-day hunger strike” on Monday to protest the alleged high-handedness of the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy on Free School Street.

Sources said 35 of the 80-odd students from across the world now staying in the academy’s hostel have refused to eat, alleging that they were being forced to study in “second-rate” institutions as the management was not funding their education properly.

The Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy, founded in 1821, runs a free school for Armenian children up to Class X and also funds the college education of students from the community. Students taking scholarship from the academy can also study at La Martiniere.

“I passed out from La Martiniere for Boys with 85 per cent marks. But I am being forced to study in a second-rung college because the academy authorities are not ready to fund my education at a better institution,” said a former student of the academy, who still stays in the hostel on the Free School Street campus.

“We have been forced to go on hunger strike. The management is insensitive towards us.”

The management refused to comment but a teacher of the academy said on condition of anonymity: “The authorities are trying to discipline the children and improve their performance.”

Last month, the authorities had allegedly suspended two students for failing to memorise poems. “They were barred from participating in any activity. When they questioned the management’s decision, they were told to leave for their countries. What will happen to their future?” asked an agitating student.

“Our parents have sent us here for better exposure. In our country it would have been difficult to study English. But the college authorities are gradually ruining the institution,” said one of the agitating students.

“We were promised that the management would fund our entire education and help us if we get an opportunity to study and work abroad. But now we are not even being allowed to apply to good colleges in Calcutta or other cities in India,” he added.

Sources said Armenian children living anywhere in the world can apply for the academy’s scholarship. Now, around 80 students from India and other countries — such as Iran, Iraq and Turkey — are availing themselves of the academy’s scholarship and living in its hostel.

Earlier, the students who did not want to study in the academy’s school could opt for La Martiniere or Calcutta International School. Sources said only the La Martiniere option is now open.