Author: Staff Reporter
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: May 27, 2006
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060527/asp/bengal/story_6277204.asp
Cadre ask students to attend song & dance
for MLAs
CPM cadre forced a Rajarhat school shut some
15 minutes after classes began this morning so that the students could attend
a felicitation for transport minister Subhas Chakraborty and local MLA Rabin
Mondal.
Over 1,000 students of Swami Vivekananda Vidyamandir,
a government-aided secondary school, who came to attend classes as usual at
10.30 am walked out an hour later after their teachers failed to convince
the partymen that they could not declare a holiday in haste.
A teacher, who spoke only on condition of
anonymity, said: "Some local CPM leaders came this morning and ordered
us to declare a holiday so that the students could attend the programme on
a field adjacent to the school building."
"We initially resisted but finally decided
to close the school to avoid friction with the CPM leaders," added another
teacher.
Several hundred students were to take tests
on the last day of classes before the school closes for summer vacation after
Monday's roll call. "It was ridiculous," said a teacher.
Like him, most colleagues resented the diktat
but did not dare voice their protest. "We come here to teach... we chose
to compromise as we did not want to face unnecessary hassles," said one
of them.
The students, excited with only one working
day separating them from summer vacation, were not any thrilled at being forced
to take a holiday.
They had to queue up on the felicitation field
at 4.30 pm.
"We were told to attend the felicitation
and ask all schoolmates to join the programme. Earlier, too, we have skipped
classes and marched for blood donation camps and book distribution ceremonies
organised by the Rajarhat-Gopalpur municipality," said Amit Mondal, a
student.
Headmistress J. Mukherjee refused comment.
North 24-Parganas district magistrate Manoj
Pant said it is an offence if somebody forces a school to shut down. "If
we receive a complaint from the school authorities, we will definitely take
action. I will also inquire on my own and find out what happened," he
added.
Rajarhat MLA Rabin Mondal confirmed tonight
that the students had attended the programme which Subhas Chakraborty could
not attend.
In Rajarhat, on the north-eastern fringes
of the city, Chakraborty has a substantial following. Even Mondal is known
to be a loyalist.
Bhupati Sengupta, the vice-chairman of the
municipality and a CPM district committee member looking after Rajarhat, said
no force was applied. "We had not instructed any party member to forcibly
shut down a school. We approach schools to provide us with students, but only
if they are interested.... We will inquire into what happened at Vivekananda
Vidyamandir."
However, teachers of many local schools said
it has been a tradition to involve the ins-titutions in processions and other
programmes organised by the municipality and the CPM's youth and student wings.
