Thirteen-year-old Sheeza Salim, a Class VII student of Seth Soorajmull Jalan Balika Vidyalaya, saw a human chain for the first time on Tuesday, when she and her friends had to walk over a kilometre to reach their carpool.
Courtesy: The school’s decision to stick to its routine schedule even as chief minister Mamata Banerjee held a rally against the Centre’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls right across the road. The school stands on 186 Chittaranjan Avenue, Simla — at the culmination point of the rally — Jorasanko.
While schools far from the rally route, like those on APC Road and Beck Bagan, opted for early dispersal fearing chaos, Seth Soorajmull on the rally Ground Zero stuck to its routine. “Why should we curtail school hours midweek for a political rally? This happens every time — July 21 or otherwise. We inform guardians, and if students come, we follow our schedule,” said principal Nupur Banerjee.
Attendance on Tuesday? “Nearly full,” she said.
“We held hands in a chain — a teacher in front, a guard behind, local hawkers and fruit-sellers helping us weave through the rally to reach our car,” said Sheeza.
Why hawkers? Because police on duty at the rally spot neither let school buses reach the gate nor helped the girls walk out, the school authorities said.
“Teachers, guards, even hawkers formed human chains to escort the girls as the police watched on,” said the principal. “Our pool cars, parked over a kilometre away at Thanthania Kali Bari on Bidhan Sarani and the other near Balika Siksha Sadan at Girish Park, weren’t allowed near the gate.”
On Tuesday, the school ran a full schedule with three activities — an excursion to Victoria Memorial for Classes XI and XII — right beside the rally route — then Madhyamik prelims for Class X, as set by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, and regular classes for VI to IX, who suffered the most during their 4.30pm dispersal amid blaring loudspeakers and street chaos.
“Before every rally, the police usually inform us. This time, they didn’t,” she said.
“A day before the rally, we even informed Girish Park police station about our excursion. They accepted our letter without objection. Had the police cooperated, it would have been easier for us to manage the dispersal.”
“What’s there to inform? Everyone knew about the rally,” said an officer of Girish Park police station. Asked why the police did not help with the dispersal despite requests, he said: “We did our bit. There was no chaos.”
“Did they? How?” shot back Class XI student Savanya Pillai, for whom returning from the excursion was “a nightmare”. “Around 3.30pm, our bus was stopped near Thanthania Kali Bari. When we walked to school from there, the police wouldn’t let us in. We waited outside, then walked again, took autos, changed buses — to get home,” she said.
Basically, all the 450 students had to walk, in chains of various shapes and sizes, to get out of the rally zone, said the school authorities. One flank of Central Avenue — from Girish Park to Jorasanko — was shut for the rally, worsening the traffic snarls outside the school.
“Parents kept calling in panic. Some reached early, others couldn’t. Two students were stuck inside the school till 5.20pm as their parents couldn’t get through,” the principal said.
Pool car owner Ajit Mondal said they reached Girish Park at 5pm, half an hour late. “We tried to reach through Rajballavpara at Bagbazar. The route was blocked. Then we tried Hatibagan. Hedua was also one-way. Finally, we cut across lanes and bylanes and reached Girish Park through Manicktala,” he said. The driver had arranged for snacks for the tired and scared kids, who finally reached their car.
Some had to walk longer. Arushi Khuntia of Class IX had to walk 3km from school to reach her home in Burrabazar at 5.30pm. “It takes me 15 minutes from school to reach my home,” said Arushi.
Palak Harijan of Class VII reached home at 7pm instead of the usual 5.30pm. “My wife had to return halfway due to the congestion,” said Palak’s father, Pradip. “I walked from Chandni to Jorasanko to pick her up,” he said.
The police officer from Girish Park added: “Everyone knew about the rally. The students were all safe. They reached home safely.”