Ranchi, Jan. 14: Dissection of guinea pigs allegedly resulted in a standoff between students and teachers of DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali, that was resolved today.

Class XII students of biology had raised their voice against teachers who allegedly asked them to purchase two guinea pigs for dissection a week ago.

Students now are afraid that the standoff with the teachers could have a ripple effect on their results.

However, teachers and principal of the school denied the allegations.

For the past three years, DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali, has refrained from using animals for dissection, said staff members.

Students claim that the teachers insisted biology students to collect Rs 50 to purchase two guinea pigs just before the practical examinations this year.

In most CBSE schools, the practical examinations would start from tomorrow and be completed by February 15.

However, biology students of the school vehemently opposed the move claiming that animal dissections were banned in CBSE schools since 2004 according to a CBSE directive.

“We were asked to collect money for purchasing guinea pigs as teachers told us that we should know about its parts,” said a biology student.

Another student said that there are two groups in the biology section. “Hence, we were supposed to purchase two guinea pigs for each group for the practical,” he said.

A few other students said that the teachers asked the students to go ahead with the dissection even though it was banned and not a part of their syllabus.

The biology teacher of DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali, however, said no such demand was made.

“We are aware of the fact that the animal dissection is banned in schools, so why would we ask the students to do it? We are asking the students to concentrate on finding out different types of pollution. We are also encouraging them to go for plant dissection,” Singh said.

Principal of Cambrian Public School G.P. Singh said all CBSE schools have refrained from using the animals for dissection as the ecological balance is getting affected.

“Now we are using leaves for dissection instead of frogs, earthworms and rabbits. Although we have animal specimens, they are only used to study the external part without dissection,” the principal said.

Principal of Kairali School Rajan Verghese, too, said that instead of dissections there should be specimens of animals in every school. “Dissection of living organisms has completely stopped,” the principal added.