Bhubaneswar: Despite the decision to put off the reopening of schools, some City schools opened Wednesday surprising both parents and students.
Many parents were surprised and angry as the managements of the private schools had not obeyed the government order, and as the sweltering heat was making it difficult for children.
Many parents said they had not got any information from the school, and that they were forced to bring their children to school.
Many schools in the City like Loyola and Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir had failed to inform parents. This irritated the parents as most schools were closed till June 25 after opening for a day.
Soumendra Samantaray, whose son studies in Loyola, said that opening and closing a school like this creates problems as the school opened only for a day with the government extending summer holidays. He said this is not acceptable as the afternoon heat was very severe. The school authorities could have been alert and could have sent a message to us. He said they could have opened the school early and closed it by 11am.
Another parent, Dipika Mohanty, said that opening the school for a day and then closing it for a week is not acceptable. In today’s hi-tech age the school could have put the information on its website and spared us the trouble, she said.
Basudev Bhatt, a parent and president of the Odisha Abhibhabaka Mahasangha, said that private schools here were acting according to their whims and fancies, and they are not accountable to anyone. We had protested their unjustifiable hike in fees very often, he added.
The additional six days of holiday is considered unnecessary by some parents as they felt that it would hamper studies, and will make it difficult for the school to complete the syllabus before exams.
Another parent said that teachers will now put pressure on students after opening of the school to complete the syllabus fast.
Gopabandhu Lenka, a teacher of DAV Unit VIII, said they had an exam for Classes XI and XII Wednesday, but it was cancelled.
Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir Unit III Principal Tapan Kumar Panda said they had opened the school June 17. But when the government decided to close the institutions till June 19, we closed the school and sent back the students after informing their parents.
Show-cause notices will be sent to the school authorities concerned who have opened the schools despite government order for extension of the summer vacation, said a senior official of the School and Mass Education department.