Walk for a cause! Over 60 girls walk through the night to report abuse at residential school

About 60 adolescent girls from a residential school in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, walked 17 km through the night to reach the local collectorate in order to file a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ananya Mittal, about the abuse they had suffered at the hands of their hostel warden. The class XI students of Kasturba Gandhi Residential Girls School at Khuntpani, who had sneaked out of the school, arrived at the collectorate in Chaibasa early Monday morning, as reported by PTI.

The girl students' actions created a stir among officials of the district education department. Following this, based on the DC directions, District Superintendent of Education (DSE) Abhay Kumar Shil reached the spot and heard the students' grievances before sending them back to school in vehicles. He assured the girls that the matter will be investigated and action will be taken against the warden.

Explaining their concerns, the students told DSE that they were forced to eat stale food, and clean toilets and students of lower classes were compelled to sleep on the floor on just mats in the prevailing cold, and they were beaten up by the warden if they protested. Additionally, they alleged that the warden compelled the students to lie to senior officials when they visited the school for inspection.

How did they reach out to officials?
After reaching Chaibasa, the girls dialled local Congress MP Geeta Koda, who, in turn, informed the DC about the girls' action. Then the MP informed the DC about the girls' actions. Following this,  DSE was called by the DC to look into the matter. DSE Shill said a team will be formed to investigate the allegation, as stated in a report by PTI.