Pune: Owing to the Maharashtra Bandh called across the State on Wednesday in the aftermath of the incidents that occurred at Koregaon-Bhima two days ago, most of the shools and colleges in the city remained shut. Hardly any students were present at the schools and colleges which were open on Wednesday.
‘No instruction day’ at schools
Many schools, on Tuesday, had sent out emails and messages to the parents, informing them not to send their children to school. While some schools had declared a holiday, at some schools, it was ‘no instruction day’ for the students, but the teachers had to attend the school.
“My children’s school hadn’t declared a holiday earlier, and hence, we sent them to school. However, as the situation began to get tense, the teachers messaged us to come and take the children home to avoid any undesirable circumstances,” a parent from DES English School, Tilak Road said. The Std X preliminary examination was supposed to start at some schools on Wednesday. However, they were postponed due to the bandh.
A parent of a girl studying at St Anne’s School, Camp said, “Only 50 per cent of the girls showed up for the paper at my daughter’s school, the authorities postponed the paper. They also said that they will analyse the situation in the city and then decide whether the exam on Thursday will happen or not.”
School transport operators unavailable
Earlier, most of the school transport operators in the city had informed the parents a day before the bandh that they will not be able to ferry the children to the school on Wednesday, because of the tension in the city.
Rajan Junawane, Vice-President of the Pune School Bus Association, said, “After Maharashtra Bandh was called for on Tuesday, we decided not to operate school buses on Wednesday to avoid any risk to the life of children, because of some incident on the road. Also, many educational tours and picnics were booked by several schools in the city, which we cancelled because of the bandh.”
Colleges in the city remain shut too
Almost all colleges in the city remained shut, owing to the risk of undesirable incidents occurring due to the bandh.
Fergusson College had earlier allowed the students to enter, however, as the situation became tense, they shut down the gates preventing anybody from entering the campus.
Most of the prominent colleges in the city like Sir Parshurambhau (SP) College, Abasaheb Garware College, Nowrosjee Wadia College, Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC), SSPMS College of Engineering, etc. too were closed for the students.
The principals mentioned that although they couldn’t declare a holiday as they cannot participate in the bandh, they didn’t have any lectures.
College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) had organised registration for credit on Wednesday and Thursday, which was postponed to Thursday and Friday because of the bandh.
The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) was functioning as usual, although, the number of students on the campus was much lower than usual. Yet, the lectures were being held by most of the departments for the students present.
