Adamant Fatehabad villagers send kids to school, but no classes held

Hisar, January 25

Sticking to their stand, residents of Dhani Sanchla and Dhani Bhojraj villages on Tuesday sent their children to Government Secondary School of Fatehabad district. However, as per the government directions, the school staff, working with half the strength, did not take any classes.

On Monday, the villagers had announced in a meeting that they would send their children to the village school despite the Covid curbs as per the Disaster Management Act-2005. On Tuesday, they said they had submitted a memorandum to the district administration, seeking the reopening of the schools.

Notably, the two villages have one government school and three private schools. Fifty per cent of the teaching staff have been coming to schools, as per the government order. Earlier this month, the government had extended the closure of physical classes till January 26 as part of the Covid curbs.

Satbir Godara, a resident of Dhani Bhojraj village, said about 50 of 150 students went to the school on Tuesday. “We will hold another meeting on January 28, in which Dhani Gopal and Chamarkhera villagers will also participate. We will meet DC Pradeep Dagar to discuss our demand,” he said, while reiterating that the closure of schools had affected the studies of the students. “Children are visiting the markets and travelling to other places as usual then why shut schools?” Godara asked.

Meanwhile, Fatehabad District Education Officer Dayanand Sihag said the DC had directed him to talk to the villagers and pacify them as they couldn’t allow the reopening of the schools as per their wish. “An official of the Education Department talked to the villagers on Tuesday. We have forwarded their memorandum to the state government,” he added.

“Kids will attend the school on R-Day. As per earlier routine, the school will remain shut on Jan 27 but the students will come next day. If the teachers refuse to take classes, we’ll send them out of the school and rope in educated village youth to teach our kids.” Kuldeep Singh, villager