Chandigarh school opens despite holiday, parents object

While the Chandigarh Administrator had declared August 17 a holiday for government, government-aided and private schools in the city, the management of Banyan Tree School, Sector 48, asked students and staff to attend school, prompting several parents to raise objections.Some parents submitted complaints to the UT Administration, while others approached the school authorities, but said they received no satisfactory response.

According to the school management, it was awaiting official confirmation from the UT Administration until the last moment. “As per practice, we have to seek permission from the school’s higher management to declare a holiday. However, for August 17, we did not receive any official information that could have been shared with the higher authorities before taking a decision. Therefore, we did not declare a holiday today,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, parents and staff members said they too had waited for an official communication from the school before reaching the school.

“We had asked the class teachers several times about the August 17 holiday, but did not receive a satisfactory reply. While all Chandigarh-based schools were closed, the Sector 48 school management asked our children to attend school,” a parent said.

Another parent said the UT Administration had been informed about the school's decision on Monday morning. “We have submitted a complaint to the UT Administration and asked whether any special permission had been granted to the school to continue classes for teachers and students when all other schools were closed. We also tried to contact school officials, but to no avail,” the parent said.

A staff member said there was confusion among employees as well. “We had no clarity on whether the school would remain closed on Monday. While other schools were shut and several reports indicated that August 17 had been declared a holiday, the management maintained that it had not received any official communication from the UT Administration,” the staff member said.