Denied entry for being late to school for examination, students block road

BALURGHAT: A group of Class XII students of Balurghat High School (HS) staged a demonstration and blocked the road in front of the institution on Friday morning after being denied entry into the school premises for arriving late. The incident took place around 11.30 am, minutes before their scheduled Chemistry examination.

The school authorities had earlier issued a clear instruction that all examinees must enter the premises on or before 10.50 am. However, according to the agitating students, they had reached before 11 am but found the main gate closed on the orders of the head of the institution.

The students alleged that several teachers also arrived after the stipulated time and questioned why the same rule was not applied to them. In protest, they sat on the road outside the school, shouting slogans and obstructing traffic for a considerable time. The situation drew the attention of passers-by and caused inconvenience to commuters.

Police personnel from Balurghat Police Station arrived shortly afterwards, spoke to the students, and managed to restore normalcy. Headmaster Srijit Saha later told reporters that the matter had been settled and “everything was okay”.