CHENNAI: Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to schools across the nation to mourn the death of 132 school students in Peshawar on Tuesday in a terror attack, schools in Chennai paid tributes to the young lives lost, on Wednesday. The students prayed for the souls to rest in peace, with a candlelight vigil and by observing two minute silence,
It was a heart-warming sight to see hundreds of children gather at Everwin Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Kolathur. Children are the same everywhere. Borders are created only for separation of boundaries, not for hearts that go out to the parents of our friends killed in brutal attack in Peshawar in Pakistan, observed some students.
About 1,000 students from classes three to 10 gathered at an open place on the school premises and mourned in front of a poster that read, “We are born to live, our heart goes out to the parents of our friends killed in Pakistan.”
Many students wept to express their grief over the death of their friends in the army school in the neighbouring country.
Ekra Anam, student of class eight, said that stringent action should be taken against terrorist outfits that involved in such barbaric acts. The punishment should be a lesson to those, who think of killing such innocent lives for no fault, said Ekra.
“I could not bear to see the mutilated bodies of our friends in Pakistan; I just could not take it. I broke down seeing it. Let their souls rest in peace,” said a visibly-emotional Ekra.
Tears were shed, and students and teachers lit candles to express their grief and condemnation.
Students from other schools too observed silence.
“These children are martyrs as well. It is unfortunate that kids like us were murdered out there, a few thousand miles away. The most shocking thing is that these killings happened in an army school that is supposed to be safe. I could not stand the sight of their bodies on TV. We need to do something and weed out terrorists from the world. But at the moment, let us just pray for their souls to rest in peace,” said a class 10 student from a school in Gopalapuram.
However, some schools did not wait for the Prime Minister’s appeal.
“As soon as we came to know about the attack by Taliban, we decided that the entire school should mourn the loss. We not only observed two minutes of silence, praying for the departed souls, but also explained the attack to our students. They ought to know how condemnable the act is,” said Ajeet Jain, senior principal, Bhavans Rajaji Vidyashram.