West Bengal: Many private schools declare early summer vacations after CM's plea

KOLKATA: Several private schools in West Bengal have declared summer vacations from Friday, after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged the educational institutions to advance the holidays by a week in the wake of the India-Pakistan military conflict. St Xavier's Institution-Sodpure, Julien Day School and Delhi Public School Ruby Park were among the schools that announced summer vacations from Friday following Banerjee’s appeal. India Pakistan tension live updates.

"We were scheduled to hold classes till May 13... But, in view of the emerging situation and as suggested by the CM, we advanced the dates by a few days," said Lipika Ghosh, Principal of St Xavier's Institution, Sodpure. A spokesperson of Julien Day School said, "We have advanced the summer vacation dates from the initial plan of May 16 to May 9 following the directive of the CM." Delhi Public School Ruby Park, too, has announced holidays for a month from Friday.

Secretary of La Martiniere School for Boys and Girls, Supriyo Dhar added: "After the CM’s request, we have decided to switch to online classes from today till May 16. We had earlier announced to start the vacations from May 17, and that remains.” The chief minister had on Wednesday appealed to private schools in the state to declare summer vacations from May 9 in light of the tensions between India and Pakistan. However, several schools maintained that they had already chalked out their academic calendar before the Pahalgam terror attack, and the military conflict between India and Pakistan.

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“Yes, we are closing from tomorrow (May 10) after the ‘Rabindra Jayanti’ (birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, a state holiday) celebrations today. But, this was decided much earlier," Principal of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Meena Kak, said. Principal of B D Memorial International School-Narendrapur, Madhumita Sengupta, also said that it had already fixed May 8 as the last day of classes before the summer vacations. “Our academic calendar had been set" before the developments surrounding the Pahalgam incident, she said.

The Mahadevi Birla World Academy and Calcutta Girls High School also said dates for the summer vacations had been fixed well in advance. In the districts as well, several private schools announced the commencement of summer vacations from Friday. "Following the developments after ‘Operation Sindoor’, we have decided to advance the day of commencement of vacations from May 16 to May 9," a spokesperson of a private school in Jalpaiguri said. Summer vacations are already underway in state-run and state-aided schools from April 30, owing to excess heat.