Several private schools in Kolkata have announced a holiday or early dispersal on Monday.
The Ram temple in Ayodhya will be inaugurated on Monday. In Kolkata, chief minister Mamata Banerjee will lead an interfaith unity march on that day.
Sushila Birla Girls’ School, St Augustine’s Day School, Shyamnagar, Mahadevi Birla World Academy and Birla High School are among the institutions that have announced suspension of classes.
La Martiniere for Girls and La Martiniere for Boys have announced a staggered early dispersal. Several other schools are expected to make a final decision on Saturday.
Most schools said the board practicals for ISC (Class XII) and CBSE (Class XII) will be held as scheduled on Monday. The dates of the board practicals are decided well in advance.
There has been a growing clamour by the saffron ecosystem to declare January 22 a public holiday.
On paper, none of the schools cited the temple inauguration for the holiday or early dispersal. Some of the schools said it was the rally in Kolkata, which they feared would lead to traffic congestion and inconvenience students, that prompted the decision.
“We are giving away earlier so that the children are not inconvenienced because of the rally,” said an official at the La Martiniere schools.
“January 22 has already assumed a gigantic scale. The Centre has also announced a half-day on Monday. We should also respect the public sentiment,” said the principal of a school that will remain closed on Monday.
St Augustine’s Day School, Shyamnagar, has in a notice said the school will be closed on Monday “due to certain extenuating circumstances”.
“There are multiple rallies. We are keeping classes suspended fearing traffic congestion that could cause inconvenience to the children,” said Koeli Dey, principal of Sushila Birla Girls’ School.
The chief minister has urged residents of various wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to bring out rallies on Monday.
Mamata is scheduled to pray at the Kalighat temple before the interfaith rally starts. She is also expected to pray at a gurdwara and a mosque.
Not every school is shut though. “We are open on Monday. We will close only if we get a directive from the state government,” said Amita Prasad, director of Indus Valley World School.
IIT, IIEST
The registrar of IIT Kharagpur announced on Friday evening that the institute will remain closed for half day till 2.30pm on January 22 “on account of Ram Lala Pran Pratistha at Ayodhya”. The registrar of IIEST Shibpur, too, announced that the institute will remain closed for half day, till 2.30pm, on Monday.