GD Birla School in Kolkata shuts shop for indefinite period

Kolkata, April 7 (IANS) In an unprecedented incident, a premium educational institution in Kolkata, GD Birla school on Thursday morning announced suspension of operations of the institute for an indefinite period.

A notice was seen attached at the school gate early Thursday morning, where the school authorities said that the decision to suspend operations in the school was taken keeping in view the safety of the students.

"In view of the present law and order situation caused by the agitation in and outside the school, we are forced to close down the school for the safety and protection of the students and teachers till further notice. Kindly bear with us," read the notice signed by the school's vice principal Atrayee Sengupta.

Recently a section of guardians of the students of GD Birla school agitated in front of the school premises. The guardians alleged that even after the school opened after a long closure due to pandemic situation, the authorities were not allowing a section of the students to attend classes on grounds that their fees during the pandemic closure were due.

A petition was filed at a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on this count. Meanwhile, similar allegations have been raised against some other private schools in the city.

On Wednesday the court barred the private school authorities from denying entry or promotion on grounds of pending fees. The division bench also barred the private schools from withholding the marksheets of the students.

Just after that on Thursday, the GD Birla School authorities attached the notice of the closure of the school for an indefinite period. However, till the report was filed there had been no official communication from the school authorities to the media on this count.

To recall, on December 1, 2017 two physical education teachers of the same school, namely Abhishek Roy and Md Mofizul, were arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a four-year-old student of the school. At that time, it was revealed that the school authorities did not adhere to the CBSE recommendation of installing CCTVs within the school premises. In 2019 again the school came into media limelight following the unnatural death of a student at the premises.