The District Educational Officer (DEO) for private schools in Nilgiris, VK Parthasarathy, has taken action based on a recommendation from the Director of Private Schools regarding the declaration of ten holidays for a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) meeting at a private school in Theetukal, Ooty. According to a report by The New Indian Express, a notice has been sent to the school for declaring holidays between July 7 and 17 for the national-level RSS event.
“Without getting prior permission from the education department the JSS Public School, has declared holidays for the students. We can agree if the school declares one or few days for the students and that will be compensated on Saturday. However, the school declared holidays for ten days during the middle of the academic year. This is a huge interval for students from academics. We have sent notice on Friday and given 15 days time to respond," VK Parthasarathy told TNIE.
According to Parthasarathy, the school authorities are yet to respond to the letter from the education department. The department plans to forward the letter to the Director of Private Schools in Chennai, and further steps will be taken based on their recommendation.
The Correspondent of JSS Public School, SP Dhanabal, clarified that the RSS did not pressure the school to provide the venue. He mentioned that the school premises, including the auditorium and classrooms, are regularly made available to various organisations, including the police department and local bodies, for meetings or events. The school allotted the venue for the RSS meeting without any bias or favouritism.
"As part of the RSS meeting, we have preponed the school opening ten days before (on June 22) and declared ten days of holidays for the students from July 7 to 17. Due to declaring of holidays, the students' study would not be affected in any way and we will reply to the education department soon," he said.
