A group of schoolgirls from Rewari, who made national headlines six moths ago for securing an upgrade of their high school to senior secondary level after staging an indefinite hunger strike, are once again gearing up launch a protest seeking teachers and infrastructure in the school.
Fifteen-year-old Sujata, who was a part of the 13-student group from Gothra Tappa Dahina village in Rewari spearheading the earlier protest, said though the government had upgraded the school, the other promises remained unfulfilled.
She said that her friends and other students, who had fought hard for the upgrade of the school, seemed to have gained nothing after so many months.
Sujata and 16 other students, including boys, took admission in Class XI after the school was upgraded in May this year, but half of them have now shifted to other schools due to lack of facilities and staff.
“There are only two teachers, one for Hindi and the other for English, for all the students from Class VI-XI. I have two other subjects — geography and political science — but no one to teach me,” said Sujata.
‘Back to square one’
She said that if the teachers were not appointed, she and her classmates would be forced to go to neighbouring Kanwali village next year. “With this infrastructure, we cannot study here in Class XII since we have board exams. If we return to Kanwali, it means going back to square one,” said Sujata.
Hunger strike
Her elder sister Pinki claimed that some retired teachers from neighbouring villages have now come to the rescue of these students and are teaching them after school hours.
The schoolgirls sat on an indefinite hunger strike in May demanding an upgrade of their village school to senior secondary level.
They had alleged that they faced harassment and felt unsafe while travelling to the senior secondary school in neighbouring Kanwali village.
More than a week into the protest, Haryana Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma had announced to upgrade the school and also promised immediate appointment of a regular principal. However, the principal was appointed only a month ago, the villagers claimed.
Protest plan
Sarpanch Suresh Chauhan, an MBA, told The Hindu that the girls had given him a memorandum in support of their demands and a protest would be held outside the residence of Mr. Sharma if their demands are not met before this Saturday.
Mr. Chauhan said that the official website of the Department of School Education, Haryana, which showed the village school as Senior Secondary after the upgrade, was again showing it as high school now.
Two months after the upgrade announcement, the schoolgirls had locked up the premises protest against acute staff crunch, but the agitation was suspended following an assurance from the local administration officials to look into their demands.
