3K school, college students brave heat

To crack a whip against the drug menace in the region, a rally, ‘Yudh Nasheyan Virudh’, was held by the state government against drugs. About 3,000 school and college students took part in it.

Special buses and other vehicles were arranged for them to reach the Khalsa College For Women (KCW) — the main venue for the students to assemble, from where they were sent to the Aarti Cinema road to take part in the rally. Since the rally started late, around 12 pm, many parents of the students reached double shift schools to pick up their children but since the latter did not reach before 1:30 pm, many parents argued with school managements and asked if their wards fell sick in hot weather, will school take the responsibility?

One of the teachers at the GSSS, Cemetery Road, said since theirs was a double shift school, many parents came to take their wards around 12:30 pm but they got perturbed on not seeing their wards back on time from the rally.

“Many of them started arguing with teachers and staff but they were satisfied when after an hour or so, the students returned,” said the teacher at the school wishing not to be quoted. About 400 students from the school had gone to the venue for the rally.

The students had come from local government schools and colleges and periphery areas too. While there was not much problem for the students as they assembled around 9:30 am from local schools and colleges and those coming from far-off places, including Moga and Raikot, the buses started at 6 am.

Shakti, from 3 Punjab Battalion, Moga, told The Tribune that students reached here between 7:30 am and 8 am and around 2 pm, they left the place for Moga. “ We were at the rally for about six hours. But it was a nice experience for the students to take part in the event on a common social cause,” he said, adding that they had also made placards and banners on the issue.

The six government schools which had sent their students included the GSSS, PAU, GSSS, Cemetery Road, GSSS, Gobind Nagar, GSSS, Multipurpose, GSSS, Kundanpuri, and GSSS, Haibowal Khurd. Each school sent 300-400 students.

Sanjay, an NCC student from SCD Government College, said from the KCW, they marched towards Aarti Chowk as the rally was to be flagged off from there. On being asked if they were given refreshments during the rally, he said one banana, one lassi and a bread pakora - as refreshments was given to the students.

The rally was flagged off from Aarti Chowk by VVIPs towards Fountain Chowk. But many children left the rally when it reached near Ghumar Mandi and the Khalsa College for Women as it was too hot and the students looked exhausted.

One of the students of Class IX from the GSSS, PAU, said they were at the venue for about five hours but only once refreshments were given to them. “We were feeling hungry by afternoon. Class IX and XI students were called by schools. Though we did not study on Thursday, we will be marked present,” said Sneha, a student from the PAU.

At the same time, the students said they had to wait for over two hours for the event to start. “We were told that the function would start at 10 am whereas it started around 12 pm. The waiting period was slightly tough, otherwise there was no major issue,” said another student.