Odisha: Girls oppose merger of their school with boys' academy

Girl students of a school here and their parents staged a sit-in dharna here opposing the state government's decision to merge their institution with a boys' school, police said.

At least five students of Unit-9 Government Girls High School fainted during the agitation. They were rushed to the Capital Hospital and their condition was stable, the police said.

The state government has decided to merge the Unit-9 Girls High School with the Unit-9 Boys High School to accommodate and relocate Rama Devi Women's Junior College.

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The Director of Higher Secondary School, Odisha, has already written a letter to the School & Mass Education Special Secretary on the separation of the infrastructure of RD Women's Higher Secondary School from Rama Devi Women's University.

As per the decision, the Arts and Commerce streams can be shifted to Unit-9 Government Girls' High School in the first phase. However, the classes for science students will be held at Rama Devi Women's University as there is no laboratory facility at the school for science education.

Congress leader and Jatni MLA Suresh Routray joined the girls agitation and opposed the merger of the girls' school with the boys' school.

"Former Chief Minister Dr Harekrushna Mahtab had set up the girls' high school at Unit-9 for encouraging girls to continue study, The government cannot merge this school," Routray said.

Bhubaneswar Block Education Officer, Pragyan Paramita Jena, who visited the agitation site, tried to convince the students and their parents to pave the way for the merger. However, her appeal was rejected by the agitators.

"I will inform the government about the opinion of the girls," she said before leaving the place.