CHENNAI: There was chaos on the streets on Monday after things got out of hand at the site of the pro-jallikattu protests. The city was in flames as tyres, cars, motorbikes, and pretty much anything combustible was being burnt. Shops were shut and gates tightly bolted. But walking through this smoke were school children – some accompanied by a parent, many without.
A lot of private schools in the city shut early on that day forcing worried parents to drop everything and rush to pick up their children. This is a questionable decision when there is unrest in the city. Exposing children to this kind of environment is not only irresponsible but unsafe. For many parents caught in the crawling traffic, it was a nightmare.
“When there are law and order problems, it is not proper for schools to prematurely shut and expect parents to pick their children up,” said Mylapore MLA and former DGP, R. Nataraj. “In a situation like this, it would be safe to keep the children in school with the usual timing instead of the management unilaterally taking a decision to close the school.”
For parents living close-by, it wasn’t a problem. “I don’t think it was a bad decision to let the children off early as a lot of parents had come around noon to drop off food for the kids. Rather than wait, we were asked to take the children home,” said a mother whose children study in a school in Chetput. Many others were not as lucky. “My child had to leave the school as early as 12.30 pm.
The private van that my daughter travels in was inching through traffic. I had to reach the spot where the van was held up to pick up her and return home by foot,” said Siva Kumar, whose daughter studies in a school in Royapettah. One child was dropped at her house in Villivakkam as late as 7 pm, he said. There were other children who were forced to walk long distances to get home owing to the absence of public transport.
“I live in Injambakkam and I walked home with my friends on Monday,” said S Sneha, a student of a school in Thiruvanmiyur. “I knew it would take me a long time but I would reach home early than waiting for a bus.”
Corporation schools did not shut early. “We did not shut early because we cannot do that,” explained a headmaster. Private schools are not bound by these rules.
“The decision to shut early is the individual school’s business,” said an official from the education department. “Parents must have panicked, which is why schools took that step. But all the children were safe and nothing untoward had happened.”
Though nothing might have happened, the question is whether there should be a protocol set for situations like these. Is it right for children to be on the streets in times like this? Though some say the protocols are in place, they are clearly not being followed. “This did not require protocols. It required common sense. The children are safe in the school,” said a parent.