Cooch Behar, April 9: Three Class VII girls yesterday got locked in their school in Cooch Behar after they went unnoticed on the second floor of the building that has been empty for several days.

Metro spoke to two teachers of the school who admitted that the girls had got locked in the school overnight. Today, one of the two teachers, who visited the girls' homes in Baxirhat, 75km from Cooch Behar town, said the three were scared and their parents were requested not to scold them as they had made no mistake. The correspondent could not speak to the three students of Jorai High School or their parents, who are day labourers.

The school, that has classes from V to XII, has three floors. Class VII, in which the girls read, is on the first floor.

The problem of the girls was compounded partly because all three had supposedly told their families they would stay over the night at a friend's home because it was her birthday. It seems the families were not alarmed that the girls had not returned home because they were not expected to return that evening.

On Wednesday, school gave over at 4.30pm after the physical education period. The girls, according to assistant headmaster Uttam Saha, bunked off the physical training class and went to the second floor.

Saha, who spoke to the girls, today said: "The students of Class VII left the building around 4pm on Wednesday and went for physical training to the playground. According to the three, they did not leave the building but climbed to the top floor that was empty as the students of Classes XI and XII had finished their exams. The girls stayed in the verandah of the top floor."

The teacher said that after the teachers had left around 5.30pm, Pankaj Das, a retired Group D hand whose services had been retained, locked the main collapsible gate on the ground floor. "Pankaj Das left after 5.30pm. He had no idea that the girls were there on the top floor as the laboratories and classrooms were locked anyway. The top floor is for senior students," Saha said.

English teacher Abu Nayeem, who had gone and spoken to parents at their homes, said: "They come from poor labourers' families.... I told their parents that the girls were already scared and they should not be scolded," he said.

Around 8am today, Debashis Sarkar, who stays in a house neighbouring the school, spotted one of the girls peeping from the first-floor verandah and contacted Das.

Saha said: "The girls told me that they had parathas and they wanted to eat on the top floor. They told me they were scared of being scolded as they were not supposed to be on the top floor and also for skipping physical training."

The three friends later came down to the first floor and managed to open one of the two doors of their classroom and spent the night there.

Saha said: "According to the families, all three had told the parents they would spend the night at a friend's home as it was her birthday. That is why they were not worried. We are relieved the girls are safe."