Summary:
KOCHI: Monday’s flash hartal gave a hard time to students as most schools decided to play it safe by granting them a holiday. Students from Class IX to Plus Two were particularly affected as they were having their model exams.But Greets Public School, Kaloor, and Global Public School, Thiruvaniyoor, put their best foot down and decided to open the institutions and therefore could enjoy a normal working day.“We had a productive day. Model exams for higher classes and Cambridge exams of the international division were not hindered because of this,” said Global Public School mentor Lakshmi Ramachandran.Though there were attempts to block the functioning of the school by stopping the school bus, the staff could prevent the hartal supporters by citing the recent judgment of Kerala high court against hartal .“There were also calls made to the school saying that they would enter the institution if we kept it open but nobody turned up. We had kept the police in the loop but no untoward incidents happened,” said Ramachandran, adding that student turnout for the day was excellent.Greets Public School also had good attendance.“We had model exams for Classes IX, X, Plus One and Plus Two and it went smooth,” said vice-principal of Greets Public School Belinda Vivera.Vivera said that only three students were absent and they too reached the schools after their parents were intimated that the school is open.“We intend to keep the school open in the future during hartals,” she said.Some schools wanted to have a normal working day but chickened out in the last moment as other institutions in the vicinity were not working.“With the Hartal Act and court strictures, we thought schools would be freed from this but it is not happening,” said principal of Rajashree Public School Susan John..