Metro report on Tuesday on school students being forced to join the Left Front’s rally

School education minister Partha Dey has promised a probe into how 80 boys from South Suburban School were herded off to Monday’s mahamichhil.

Metro had reported on Tuesday that a CSTC bus full of Class IX and X boys from the Bhowanipore school had been taken to the rally without even being told where or why.

“Under no circumstances should students be asked to leave the school premises during class hours to participate in a rally. Why should boys and girls join a rally during class hours? We are looking into the matter and will take necessary action if we receive a written complaint,” Dey said on Tuesday evening.

That is unlikely to arrive on Dey’s desk as the South Suburban School officials were on Monday following the instructions — in the form of a letter of request — of his ministerial colleague Subhas Chakraborty.

The transport and youth affairs minister had written to the headmaster on August 25, urging him to “make necessary arrangements so that the students of your school participate actively” in the rally on September 1.

Chakraborty could not be contacted but the silence of officials at some of the government schools Metro visited on Tuesday — “we cannot afford to comment on this”, they said — made it clear that what had happened at South Suburban was not an exception.

What was an exception was how the headmaster of ML Jubilee School on Surya Sen Street had refused to buckle under the bullying of some members of the All Bengal Teachers’ Association, an affiliate body of the CPM.

“Some teachers urged me to let 550 students go around 11.30am so that they could participate in the mahamichhil,” said Anwar Ali, headmaster of M L Jubilee School. “I opposed the idea because in my opinion it is illegal to make innocent students a pawn in a political game. They are too young to form an opinion. Education should be left out from the realm of politics,” he stressed.

ABTA — the largest body of school teachers controlled by education minister Partha Dey’s party — rubbished allegations of steering school students to rallies.

“The ABTA has never asked any school to suspend classes and take their students to a mahamichhil,” claimed general secretary Shibaprasad Mukhopadhyay.

The refusal of senior teachers at New Calcutta Balika Vidyalaya on Amherst Street and Mitra Institution on Surya Sen Street to comment on the participation of schoolchildren in rallies suggested otherwise.

Government officials in the education department, however, backed their minister. “Schools cannot suspend classes like this. If classes are not held regularly, the schools will not be able to complete the syllabus and the students will suffer,” said a senior official.

Debashish Bhattacharya, a teacher of South Suburban accompanying the boys to the rally on Monday had tried to justify his action by stressing the need for “political awakening” among students.

His view sparked outrage among schoolteachers on Tuesday. “How can such young children be forced to participate in a rally?” demanded Jharna Majumdar, the principal of Bagbazar Multipurpose Girls High School.

Dogged by disruptions ranging from rallies to bandhs, many schools are frequently forced to re-jig their schedules.

“This is a peak period for schools and a day lost at this time is difficult to make up,” pointed out Krishna Damani of South Point High School, which will stay open this Saturday to make up for the Monday lost to the michhil.