THRISSUR: AMID the dramatic scenes, the Education Department officials on Monday closed down the Parashurama Memorial School, at Kiralur in Wadakkencherry, Thrissur, disregarding the protest of local residents. The police have also arrested four local people when they disrupted the attempt of the officials to close down the school in the morning.
The Aided LP School, which the Kerala High Court had ordered to be closed down before May 27, had witnessed a face-off on May 25 when Assistant Education Officer (AEO) Ambikavalli and senior superintend E K Sathyabhama turned up to close down the school after the members of the School Protection Committee and local people had put up stiff opposition.
Following this, the officials couldn’t seal the school and they had to retreat without closing down the school. On Monday the officials came back accompanied by police and forced their way into the school in the morning, despite the stiff resistance of locals and took control of the records at the school and sealed the school.
The High Court ordered for the close down of the school at the end of the academic year in October 2015 on a petition filed by the manager of the school. Following this, the members of the School Protection Committee and locals approached the Kerala High Court seeking to quash the order. Since the petition to challenge the court order is pending before court, the officials should have waited at least till the petition was cleared, said members of the School Protection Committee.
The Erumapetti Police said though the police recorded the arrest of four people, they were released on bail. Besides, though there were protests against the officials, the entire affair was violence-free, said police.
Earlier, Education Minister Professor C Ravindranath had said that the Kiralur school would not be closed down and the government would not allow closing down of any school in the state in the charge of being uneconomic.