Jumbo enters govt residential school campus in Chatra, damages playground

Chatra: The students, teachers and staff members of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya had a harrowing time in the early hours of Saturday when an elephant entered its campus by a portion of its boundary wall.

The residential school, located in the town, saw chaotic scenes soon after as students and teachers living in its hostels locked themselves in their rooms out of fear.The elephant emerged from a nearby forest around 2 am and knocked down a portion of the boundary wall. Once inside the campus, the pachyderm damaged the football goalposts and ripped off the practice nets in the playground. The school management on Saturday claimed the damages were to the tune of several lakhs of rupees.

None were injured in the incident. There were a 100 students, studying in classes VI-XII, in the hostels when the elephant entered the school premises.A teacher of the school said this was the first time when elephant damaged the boundary wall and entered into the campus. He however said as all students were in hostel, there was no threat to them.Awadhesh Singh, the officer-in-charge of Sadar police station, said a police team soon reached the school.

“Using torches and firecrackers, an operation was launched to drive the elephant away. After nearly two hours of effort post-midnight, the animal was safely pushed back towards the forest,” Singh said on Saturday.The forest department advised the school management to remain alert and maintain strict vigilance during night hours. Although the elephant returned to the forest, officials are continuing patrolling in the area to prevent it from re-entering the campus or nearby residential zones. Security around the school was also intensified in view of students’ safety. The elephant was photographed in a village outside the town, roughly three kilometres from the school, on Saturday morning.