Surprisingly, a portion of the land of century-old RK Government High School in Gouripur upazila under the district has been leased out to two employees of local land office.

Demanding immediate cancellation of the lease, former students of the school formed a human chain in front of the office of the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) and submitted a memorandum to him on Sunday.

Students from adjacent Pilot Girls High School and Agradut Niketan also joined the programme.

Students said they would go for fresh programmes if the lease is not cancelled.

The school, established in 1911 on 11 acres of land, has reputation as a good institution in the district.

Rajendra Kishore Acharya Chowdhury, the then zamindar of Gouripur, founded the school.

Recently 16-decimal land of the school was leased out to Uttam Kumar Das and Mazharul Islam, two Class III employees of Gouripur land office.

When Uttam and Mazharul went to the spot to take possession of the land on December 29 last year, locals protested it and urged the local administration to cancel the lease.

Journalist Md Raisuddin, also a former student of the school, said it is totally unexpected to lease out school's land.

Gouripur UNO Durre Shahwaz, also president of the school managing committee, said, "The land was leased out legally. It is a government's khas land and outside the school boundary."

On the other hand, Md Abdul Helim Fakir, headmaster (in-charge) of the school, said, "The land belongs to the school and we have valid documents regarding the claim. We met with local elites, political leaders and former students of the school and urged them to protect the school land from the grabbers."

"I also urged the UNO to cancel the lease immediately for the interest of the school," said the headmaster.