Many private schools declare holiday, few opt for online classes on July 21

A substantial number of pool cars in Kolkata will not be operating on Friday considering a large section of private schools have either declared a holiday or opted for online classes considering the traffic situation that may prevail due to the celebration of Martyrs’ Day.

According to the Secretary of the Pool Car Owners Welfare Association Sudip Dutta, normal pool car services will be plied in the suburbs where there may not be any traffic disturbances due to the July 21 rally.

For instance, schools at Sonarpur in South 24-Parganas are most likely to remain open on the day and the pool cars owners will be providing service but in main points of the city, including Gariahat, Sealdah, Hazra, Rashbehari and Park Circus amongst others the same may not be plied there.

However, the headmaster of Jodhpur Park Boys’ School Amit Sen Majumder said that the school will not be closed or conducted through online mode that day. “There will be normal classes. But the course of the day will be decided upon the attendance. If there are fewer students present then we may club the classes,” he said. The headmaster of Jadavpur Vidyapith Partha Pratim Baidya also said that normal classes will be observed for the day.

Many private schools have tweaked the timings or given holidays or opt for online mode of teaching due to the rally.

It has been reported that the Heritage School and Pratt Memorial School have decided to give early dispersal. Delhi Public School Newtown issued a notice that it will stay shut for nursery to Class II while students of classes III to XII will be dispersed by 10:30 am.

Schools, including Gokhale Memorial, have declared a holiday and others like South Point School and Loreto House will reportedly take online classes.

Apart from this, city commuters may face transportation troubles as buses in most routes may be booked by people coming to the political rally which will be held at Esplanade. The buses will usually be booked from early in the morning till 2 pm.

According to the general secretary of City Suburban Bus Service Titu Saha, the demand for buses has increased substantially compared to last year. He said that buses have been demanded from routes including Dakshinesar, Diamond Harbour, Budge Budge Road, amongst others. Thus commuters may get some relief during the second half of the day.

Saha said that they have requested that at least 20 per cent of the vehicles in each route should remain for some relief to the commuters.