More private schools have decided to suspend classes, close early or conduct online classes on Monday, the day the Ram temple in Ayodhya will be consecrated.
A bunch of private schools had on Friday announced that they would keep their premises closed or curtail classes on January 22.
In Kolkata, chief minister Mamata Banerjee will lead an interfaith unity march on Monday. She has also urged residents of various wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to organise separate rallies on the day.
Calcutta International School and South City International School announced on Sunday that they would suspend classes on Monday.
Our Lady Queen of the Missions School in Salt Lake and MP Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School will run online classes during the day, the authorities said on Sunday.
The Heritage School will have early dispersal, an official at the school said.
Most schools cited “traffic disruption” that the rally is likely to trigger as the reason for tweaking their January 22 schedule.
However, most schools said the ISC (Class XII) board practicals, viva and CBSE Class XII board practicals that are scheduled for Monday have not been deferred. These dates were decided much in advance.
“We were informed by the police that there could be congestion from 1pm and the Park Circus seven-point crossing could be affected. That is a nodal point because many students take the Parama flyover. So we decided to suspend classes on Monday. Online classes will be held for
senior students,” said Tina Servaia, principal, senior school, Calcutta International School.
Sri Sri Academy will remain open on Monday. But the authorities have left it
to the discretion of the parents to decide whether they would send their children to school.
“There are no exams on Monday. The Class X pre-board exam that was scheduled
for Monday has been
rescheduled,” said Gargi Banerjee, principal, Sri Sri Academy.
“We have left it to parental discretion whether they want to send their children to school because we are anticipating traffic disruption,” said Banerjee, of Sri Sri Academy.
The Telegraph reported on Saturday that Birla High School, Sushila Birla Girls’ School, St Augustine’s Day School, Shyamnagar, and Mahadevi Birla World Academy are some of the schools that had announced suspension of classes on Monday.
La Martiniere for Girls and La Martiniere for Boys will have early dispersal.
“We have students coming from Park Circus and Howrah. Some of the students change transport twice or thrice to come to school. They are very sincere and do not want to miss school. At times, because of traffic congestion, they reach home very late. So we have decided to shift to online classes for Monday,” said Sister Sherly Sebastian, principal, Our Lady Queen of the Missions School Salt Lake.
Some schools, however, feel that shifting to online class for a day might inconvenience parents.
“It is difficult for working parents to make an arrangement because small children cannot be left alone with the device and Internet,” said Banerjee of Sri Sri
Academy.
