BENGALURU: The state government announced a holiday for schools and colleges early on Monday morning following the demise of Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilisers and Parliamentary Affairs H N Ananth Kumar, but the delay on part of the schools in informing the parents led to chaos in many schools in the city.
By the time the message confirming a holiday for schools reached the parents, children had already reached their schools as many schools start at 8 am. Though the news of a holiday was making the rounds online, the official announcement by state government came only by 8.15 am.Some schools which function from 8.30am alerted the parents via SMS, but many children had reached their school only to find that it was a holiday.
Fortunate were those who had taken BMTC buses or vehicles on contract by schools. Many children, especially the younger ones, were kept waiting till afternoon for their parents to pick them up.“I dropped my daughter and went to office, but a few minutes after I reached office, I got a message from the school that it was a holiday. I had to then rush to pick her up,” said a distraught mother, who had to take the day off from work as there was nobody else to look after the child at home.
On the other hand, there were schools that remained open despite the state government declaring it a holiday. These schools turned out to be a boon for parents who had dropped their children and had already reached their workplace.
When asked why the schools/colleges remained open despite the government order, the managements said it was their discretionary power to give a holiday or not. “We offered condolence and then continued with the classes. There is no mandate to suspend classes,” a private school principal said. The exams and counselling for admission to PG courses at state-run universities scheduled to held on Monday were postponed.