While student protests over NEET and education reform have been dominating national headlines, a quieter but equally determined demonstration was taking place in Bihar’s Gaya district, where more than 40 students from Simuara Middle School in the Tikari sub-division walked nearly 4 kilometres to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate’s office on Tuesday, demanding basic facilities that their school has long been denied.
The students, mostly from classes 6 to 8, arrived at the sub-divisional office with written complaints, raising slogans and refusing to disperse until they were heard. Their grievances were straightforward but long-ignored: poor quality mid-day meals, a broken hand pump, unclean toilets, no fans in classrooms, absent sports equipment and an overall deteriorating school infrastructure.
Officials Scramble, Students Refuse to Budge
The timing added an extra layer of drama. SDM Praveen Kundan was away on a field visit when the students arrived, and Executive Magistrate Ranjeet Kumar Singh was initially deputed to hear them out. But the children weren’t interested in a substitute audience; they insisted on speaking to the SDM himself, and held their ground until he returned from Gurару and met them in person.
When Kundan finally sat down with the students, the list of complaints that poured out painted a picture of everyday hardship inside the classroom. The midday meal, they said, was of poor quality. The hand pump had been broken for a long time. Toilets went uncleaned for days. Sports equipment simply didn’t exist. And most damning of all, this wasn’t the first time they’d raised these issues. Repeated complaints, they said, had gone nowhere, leaving them with no option but to take their fight directly to the administration’s doorstep.
Treating the matter with unusual urgency, the SDM issued a four-day deadline to the school’s headteacher to resolve every single issue raised. He also ordered the formation of a three-member committee – comprising Executive Magistrate Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Tikari BDO Yogendra Paswan, and ADSO Chandan Kumar – to investigate the students’ written complaint. The committee will submit its findings to the SDM, who will decide on further action based on the report.