Despite government declaring holiday on Monday, many private schools conduct classes

Despite the State government’s early morning declaration of a holiday due to incessant rains, many private schools affiliated with the Central Board like Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducted classes on Monday.

Children who did not go to school following the government’s holiday announcement were marked as absent.

“I was shocked to get a message from the school around 11.40 a.m. saying that my son was absent. I had decided not to send my son to school following the holiday announcement by the government. But, the message from the school mentioned it was regular classes for them,” said a parent, who is sending her son to a private CBSE school in Banashankari 2^nd stage.

Another parent whose children are studying at a CBSE school in Bengaluru South, said that as there was no communication from the school, they went to inquire and the authorities said there was no holiday.

Meanwhile, following the directions from the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bengaluru Urban, the Deputy Directors of Public Instructions (DDPI) of Bengaluru South and North have decided to issue notices to erring schools.

“We issued the order late because the rain alert came late. It was the responsibility of all the schools to obey the orders as it was in the interest of students. As there were complaints against private schools for not following the order, I have asked the DDPIs to issue notices to such schools,” said G. Jagadeesh, Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban District.

As per the details available, in Bengaluru South educational district, there were more than 15 complaints by parents and the DDPI said he has directed the Block Education Officers (BEOs) concerned to send the list.

“So far, we have issued notices to more than 15 schools based on the complaints by parents and the public. This list may go up and we will issue notices to all such schools,” said Ningarajappa. K.B., DDPI South.

However, the delayed announcement by the District Administration caused inconvenience to thousands of parents. Some children leave home around 7 a.m. and as there was no clue, parents sent them to schools and got a call within a few minutes to pick them back.

A few schools have directed parents to watch news reports in the morning for the next few days for rain alerts and any holiday declarations by the government.

Published - October 21, 2024 09:02 pm IST