The portion of the area within the school premises where a glass window crashed on two Class IX students of Nava Nalanda school on Monday was kept cordoned off and the school did not conduct morning assembly on Tuesday.
“As a precautionary measure, we did not conduct any morning assembly downstairs on Tuesday. The area has also been kept cordoned off,” said Arijit Mitra, principal, Nava Nalanda school.
A fifth-floor glass window crashed on two Class IX students on Monday just when they were gathering for morning assembly. One of the two, Priyam Das, was grievously injured and the other, Srinjay Das, was discharged from a nursing home after first-aid.
The school has put a net cover over the cordoned-off area. Mitra had said on Monday that a shade cannot be put because of fire safety rules.
Gate number II, which leads to the cordoned-off area of the Southern Avenue building of the school, was also closed on Tuesday, a school official said.
“We operated from gate number 1 and kept the other gate shut on Tuesday. We did not face any hiccups,” said Rumeli Sarkar, history teacher, who had taken Priyam to hospital on Monday.
The students were not allowed to go to the downstairs canteen area, said the official.
The Southern Avenue campus of Nava Nalanda is for Classes VII to X and runs in two shifts — morning and day. The school conducts assembly for Classes VII-VIII and IX-X on alternate days.
“We have decided not to have the assembly downstairs for a few days. They are saying the prayer in their respective classrooms. This is not unusual because during the monsoon, too, we do not conduct the assembly downstairs,” said Sarkar.
Teachers went to visit Priyam in the government hospital in north Calcutta where he is being treated.
“He is stable and his mother told us he will be discharged on Tuesday,” said Sarkar.
Calls to Priyam’s mother went unanswered. Srinjay’s mother said he was better and will resume school either on Wednesday or Thursday.
“We had more than 90 per cent attendance on Tuesday and functioned as usual,” said Mitra.
“Classes were held as usual on Tuesday but students were not allowed to go to the canteen, which is downstairs adjacent to the area where the accident took place. My son told me that teachers have told them to carry their tiffin for the time being,” said the mother of a Class VII student.
Police officers were posted outside the campus to ensure there was no unrest and to see that traffic was not impacted, said an officer of Tollygunge police station.
On Monday, after news of the accident spread, parents had gathered on the premises with allegations of negligence against the school.