Schools at Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages under Dhinkia panchayat on Tuesday wore a deserted look with children skipping classes to join the anti-Posco stir.
While 400 children had joined the agitation on Monday, the number was 250 on Tuesday.
The headmistress of Dhinkia Primary School, Basanti Das, said of 164-student strength of the school, only 31 attended classes on Tuesday. Similarly, at Gobindpur Upper Primary School just 101 students out of 203 came to the school. While just 16 of 50 students attended classes at Gobindpur Harijan Sahi Primary School, it was nine of 39 students at Jogishai Bangali Pada Primary School. Similar scene was witnessed in many other schools.
District Collector Satya Kumar Mallick said people had been urged to avoid using their children as human shields in the anti-Posco movement.