The students of Rastriya Secondary School in Gaushala Municipality of Mahottari district have been protesting against the school and local administrations for failing to provide adequate numbers of teachers.

The students took to the streets on Sunday stating that their studies have been affected since the past four months after the municipality removed three teachers in July-August.

“Most of our courses have remained incomplete as there are only five teachers for 635 students currently studying at the school,” said Rupesh Kumar Mahato, a tenth-grade student from the school.

“Our demand is that the administrators should immediately fill the vacant teaching posts.”

The students claim that they resorted to protest as their concerns were ignored even after repeated requests to the school principal, management, and the mayor.

“With only a few months to spare for the Secondary Education Examination (SEE), preparations have been hampered since the students are only being taught two-to-three subjects,” said Mahato.

According to the students, in an earlier meeting mayor Dipendra Mahato had expressed commitment to resolve the issue after the elections were over but failed to stand by his words.

Instead, Mahato ordered the students to not attend school for a week after the students took to the streets to protest, said students and their parents.

“The mayor, stating that the students have become undisciplined, has asked us to keep them at home for a week and try to reason with them,” said Rameshwor Mahato, a parent of a ninth-grader Khusbu.

Meanwhile, principal Shiva Kumar Yadav said that the school has been making efforts to teach all subjects despite the lack of teachers.

“The arrangements for new teachers have been delayed due to the festive-seasons and elections,” said Yadav.

Yadav claims that although the students had been asked to stay home after the protests, none had been expelled.

He further stated that the mayor has not issued any notice ordering the students to not attend school but had requested the parents to reason with them.