Jamshedpur, July 23: Every bandh, no matter what the cause, derails normal life to an extent.

The bandh called by Jamshedpur industrialists in protest against businessman Vishwanath Garg’s remaining traceless even after four days, hindered school students on their way to schools to answer their first terminal examinations.

With public transport off Jamshedpur roads, autorickshaws were the only vehicles which plied on the roads in the morning hours.

“Students came in late, but they could not afford to miss school as the first terminal examinations are going on,” put in Annapurna Sen Roy, senior teacher at Church School, Beldih.

However, the attendance at Rajendra Vidyalaya suffered with most students choosing to stay back because of the bandh.

“I take the public bus, but today my father had to drop me to school,” said a student of Rajendra Vidyalaya, who still managed to reach school, although a little behind the scheduled time.

At Kerala Samajam Model School, students were seen frantically making calls to their parents after school hours.

“Students were generally nervous, fearful that just in case they were unable to reach home,” said Meena Dasgupta, the vice-principal of the school.

Earlier in the day, a few students did come in late for the examinations, but nonetheless, all did make it a point to come to school.

Loyola School was nearly empty. Most students decided to skip school, as they had finished with their examinations last Friday.

“There was a lot of discussion after school hours. People looked very apprehensive about the entire concept of the bandh and the atmosphere was certainly tense,” admitted Hursh Sharma, a high school student at Loyola school.

However, Carmel Junior College recorded an almost full attendance of students, despite the ongoing bandh.

“We have been given strict instructions to attend school unless we are seriously ill, so bandh or no bandh, we have to go to school,” said a student.

Meanwhile, normal life was thrown out of gear for daily commuters, with public transport staying off the roads.

Civic life was affected as well. Banks were forced to shut down operations for the day, with medical stores being the only shops to remain operational in the steel city today.