One of the nursery students alights from a school bus at Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar looking exhausted on Tuesday. Picture by Bishwarup Datta

A reputable south Calcutta school’s decision to shift its nursery section to another location has triggered protests by parents who think their kids will now spend more time travelling than in class.

The nursery section of Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar was moved from its original address — 4 Iron Side Road — to a building on 22A Southern Avenue on Monday.

Parents of the 350-odd students of the school gathered in front of the institution on Tuesday morning to demand that the nursery section be immediately shifted back to Iron Side Road. Some even doubted whether the new address had the required facilities.

“This shift happened all of a sudden and we were told about it only last week. The school authorities cannot take such a whimsical decision as the new address lacks the basic facilities that kids need,” said Amin Rashid, the father of a student.

Most of the parents who assembled outside the 62-year-old institution said their children were spending more time in transit because of poor planning by the school authorities.

“The school bus picks up my daughter at 8.15am from Lake Town and then brings her to the Iron Side Road campus, where she has to board another bus that takes her to the Southern Avenue campus. She reaches the new building around 10.30am,” said Amit Barmecha.

Earlier, it would take Barmecha’s daughter less than an hour to reach the Iron Side Road campus.

“The school timings used to be 9.15am to 1pm. But because of the change in address, the kids are spending only one-and-a-half hours there, from 10.30am to noon,” said Moumita Mitra, whose daughter Kohana alighted from the school bus looking exhausted.

Mitra and other parents waited over two hours to meet the school principal.

“We had submitted a written complaint on Monday and wanted to meet the principal. But we were denied a hearing. Then we lodged a complaint against the school authorities at Karaya police station,” Barmecha said.

An official at Karaya police station confirmed receiving the complaint.

One of the aggrieved parents, Vijay Mehta, said the nursery children were being made to climb the stairs to the third floor of the new building. “They are made to sit on the carpet because there are no tables or chairs. I’ve seen naked wires dangling from the wall.”

The school authorities disputed the allegations about the nursery section lacking basic facilities. The new building is “secure and safe”, an official said.

Principal Sucharita Poddar said the shift was necessary because the old building had become “cramped”.

“The new building has all the facilities. We know that timing is an issue and are trying to work out a solution.”