In a bizarre incident, students of a Government school at Puducherry, went on a rampage when the teachers asked them to bring their parents for a meeting. The school was subsequently closed and the Education Department asked the teachers not to take classes until the next order comes.
Netaji Subash Chandrabose Government higher secondary school is located at Periyar Nagar in Puducherry. Due to maintenance work at Calve College higher secondary school, nearly two hundred higher secondary students from there were transferred to Jeevenandham Government higher secondary school. As there was congestion due to lack of space, those students were transferred to Netaji Subash Chandrabose school.
Meanwhile, the students were not attending the classes properly and used to be disobedient to teachers too. They had also been conducting protests demanding a sports ground for the school and after the half-yearly exam holidays, the school reopened on Wednesday.
Since students had faired poorly in the exams, the teachers planned for a meeting with their parents, and decided to complaint about them to their parents, said a teacher. He further said some students were irked by this and on Thursday evening itself, they damaged some school benches. On Friday morning, they took support from other students and started vandalising school property.
"Teachers came to school but couldn't control the students and ran out. We called Orleanpet police station and informed them about the student atrocities in the school. Before they arrived, the students had damaged windows, doors, tube lights, fans, water pipes and noon meal vessels. On seeing the police, the students ran out and escaped," said another teacher, who witnessed the incident.
Police under Orleanpet inspector Dhanasekar and sub-inspector Newton arrived at the scene and inspected the classrooms. After that, they inquired with the teachers and asked for a written complaint about further action. The teachers, in turn, contacted the Education Department officials, and based on their instructions, closed the school and went home. Source added that officials asked the teachers not to take classes further and just give the hall tickets for them to attend the public exams.
"As the school management did not submit a complaint, we just inquired and cleared from there without filing any case. Teachers said that the Education Department officials would take further action, so no police action was taken in this issue," said Sub-Inspector Newton, an inquiry officer of the police team that visited the school after the rampage by students. This created a flutter in Puducherry and some of the students' parents, came to school and returned with no one present there.
