As many as 29 girl students fled from the hostel of a Government residential school at Antaraba under Mohana block in Gajapati district on Saturday night.
Though the exact reason behind the incident is yet to be ascertained, it is being suspected that the students were unhappy with the school authorities over their problems.
“The students left a letter mentioning that the teachers of the school were not cooperating with them following which they were compelled to leave the hostel,” said the District Welfare Officer (DWO).
After the incident, under the instructions of Gajapati Collector Anup Shah, the school authorities, DWO and local police have launched a search operation to trace the missing girls.
School Headmaster Manoj Rath said, “We had visited the houses of two students but they were not there. We have launched a search operation.”
Rath added that the students had earlier expressed their resentment over some issues with their teacher which was resolved then and this time too they probably left the hostel for the same reason.