After years of struggling to get to school, a journey that would take two-and-a-half hours each way, the move to a hostel was like giving his dream of becoming an engineer the chance of coming true. But Class 9 student Jivan Chaudhari can once again feel academics slipping away – and this time thanks to an inept administration that has pushed him and 191 others out of their hostel to cramped, airless quarters where even electricity is a luxury.

Jivan was thrown out of the adivasi hostel in Padgha, close to his school, and moved to another in Khanda Colony several kilometres away on Thursday just hours before he was to appear for his first exam - Marathi. Unmindful of the scorching heat, he and the others staged a protest hoping that the government would pay heed to their predicament.

By night, Jivan was running a temperature. "We haven't been able to sleep because of mosquitoes," says Jivan. "It takes just two minutes to reach school from Padgha hostel. But from here (Khanda), the school is nine kilometres away. Autos take around Rs.300 to drop us. But none of us can afford to spend so much money," he adds.

The boys had been thrown out of Padgha because the government owed Rs.12.82 lakh to its owner, Vishnu Popeta.

Khanda Colony is a poor replacement, they complain. Some of them are forced to sleep in the compound and the others are packed into 20 rooms on two floors. On Thursday night, they slept in a makeshift hall, which has just two table fans and no room for light. A drain runs close to the hall, resulting in swarms of mosquitoes.

On Friday, the officials arranged a few mattresses but it was just not enough. This is a critical time for the students, who are appearing for various exams, including engineering and MBBS. Some like Jivan are already writing their papers.

Up next for him is Algebra, and he is worried about how he will manage. The store room where he has been put up doesn't even have a light.

There is also the additional bother of shifting their belongings and books from Padgha to Khanda Colony so they can get on with the task of studying.

Balasaheb Pandhre, a student of agriculture whose exams start on April 18, is worried too. "After shifting our belongings, we had to clean the area here to sleep. But with no light in the store room, it will be tough to study."

They have appealed several times to the government but to no avail.

According to Shrikant Parad, who is also studying agriculture, the students sent a letter to the tribal welfare department after the Padgha hostel owner started harassing them and asked them to leave the hostel. "We requested them to arrange for an alternative place. In the last six months, we have sent four letters to the department. And we have received a reply for just one letter from H.R. Bhosale, a tribal department officer, saying they will make available a hostel in 15 days. But it's been a month now. They took us along with them to check the hostel building for our accommodation and in all we saw 45 such buildings. We even gave them a positive reply, but they haven't finalised the place yet."

Bhosale was not available for comments.

Where does this apathy leave those like Balasaheb, Shrikant and Jivan, all of whom aspire towards a better life for themselves and their families.

Jivan's father is a farmer. The family -- comprising his parents, grandmother and younger sister --lives in a hut deep in the hills of Charnewadi in Kanpoli in Panvel taluka. Life has been tough. Getting home entails a two-hour bus ride and then a half-hour trek. The village has only one school till class 2 so children have to necessarily travel out for further education.

Seeing his passion for studies, Jivan's father sent him to Panvel's Padgha hostel in 2010. Becoming an engineer was – and is – his dream and he got admission in the in Sanjay Gandhi High School near Padgha hostel.

He thought it was the beginning of a new life. And for two years it indeed was. But year three has turned out different.

If the government doesn't step in in time, students like Jivan may not be able to recover their lost academic hours. A paper gone wrong, an examination failed – it could mean the end of a carefully nurtured dream. For Jivan and scores of others.