Behala High School on Friday gave in to the demands of the students who had confined the headmaster and several teachers till late on Thursday after they were barred from appearing for the Class XI second semester examination for not having the required percentage of attendance.
The president of the school’s managing committee, after a meeting with the parents in the school on Friday afternoon, said the 80 students would be allowed to write the examination that begins on March 3.
On Thursday, the school authorities announced that these 80 students of Class XI would not be allowed to appear for the examination as they did not have 50 per cent attendance. Their attendance ranged between 30 and 40 per cent.
The state’s Plus II course has been split into four semesters from 2024-25 academic year. The first and second semesters are for the students of Class XI, and the third and fourth semesters are for Class XII students.
“But we could not stick to our decision following protests from the students and their parents. There was political pressure as well,” said a teacher who did not want to be named.
Around noon on Thursday, the students blocked the entrance of the school, off Diamond Harbour Road, demanding that they be allowed to write the exam. A police contingent was deployed outside the school as the students turned violent.
Ratna Chatterjee, the TMC MLA from Behala East Constituency, said: “We requested the school authorities to consider the plea of the students. It wouldn’t be proper to disallow them to write the exam over the attendance issue.”
Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya, the president of the state higher secondary council, said since the Class IX exams are conducted by schools, they are authorised to decide who they would allow to write examinations. The council does not interfere in this issue, he said.
“Nobody from the Behala School contacted us,” Bhattacharya told Metro.