Why Tripura Government banned political gatherings on school premises

NEW DELHI: On February 19, the Tripura Government banned political programmes on school premises. Earlier in the month, a political rally disrupted classes at a government school where students left class to join the rally. The schools had just reopened after two years of closure and near-constant disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic; there was much work to be done.

Tripura Government had issued guidelines on the use of school property for political communication in January 2021 as well. The guidelines set out the permissions required and other conditions to be followed for political gatherings at public schools – often the largest and well-constructed buildings in an area.

“But two things were missing in the guidelines. One, they need to pay a fee for utilising the playground for a political gathering and two, that political gathering should not happen during school hours,” said an official of the education department, Tripura, on condition of anonymity.

The February rally in question, which took place at a government school in Shantirbazar in Subdivision I area of South Tripura district, the rally took place during school hours. The children abandoned their classes to join, causing widespread outrage. “This compelled the authorities to ban political gathering during the school hours,” said the official, adding “the headmaster did not apply for the no-objection certificate (NOC). He simply took permission from the police authorities. Children rushed out to attend the meeting bunking their classes.”

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New rules

The February 19 order said: “no school resources including playground shall be used by any political party/organiser to conduct political functions/rallies etc. No objection Certificate from the Director Secondary/Elementary Education or concerned District Education Officer as the case may be a prerequisite for organising other programmes as well strictly during holidays or after school hours.”

The order, signed by Chandni Chandran director, secondary education, also said that the department had discovered that some teachers-in-charge and headmasters had “violated this rule and…tacitly given approval to the use of school ground for political gatherings during school hours despite the organiser not obtaining NOC.”

“Especially since the schools have reopened after long breaks necessitated by Covid pandemic situation, it is completely unacceptable that the headmasters are allowing such activities seriously hampering teaching-learning activities and violating the norms of the department”, the order further said. Tripura had reopened all schools on January 31, 2022, from pre-primary to class 12 as there was a decline in
Covid-19 cases.

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‘Positive and negative’

Though most of the headmasters agreed with the restrictions imposed by the education department’s notification, reactions from the teacher and student community in the state were mixed. The headmasters of a few schools Careers 360 spoke to welcomed the decision. They said that the restrictions were needed for long but the issue had become especially urgent in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The children have already lost two years of their education due to the disruptions it caused.

“In my opinion, the decision taken will have both positive and negative impact,” said Ajit Kumar Singh, headmaster, Bhadrapalli Higher Secondary School, Tripura. “It is not only a school but a societal establishment to be utilised for the good of the people. Our neighbouring country is Bangladesh and our school is in the border area, it is the cluster resource centre (CRC),” he explained. In fact, schools are often the only public buildings in many parts of the country and for that reason, serve as polling stations, storm shelters, quarantine centres and immunisation centres.

Bhadrapalli Higher Secondary School in Unakoti is the cluster resource centre (CRC) for that area. It is the centre from which materials like sports equipment and kits, water tank, water filter, whiteboard and many other materials for the need of 11 other schools and madrasas in the cluster are distributed.

Every block resource centre (BRC) in a district will have three to four CRCs attached, depending on the population. Unakoti has four block resource centres. Tripura has eight districts, 23 subdivisions and 58 blocks. Every block will have one block resource centre.

A school is also used for many other activities like organising health camps and various other kinds of community service in the school premises, many times during school hours for the involvement of the children and also on holidays.

“This ruling should not be misused. Because there are many activities or events that are usually organised in schools for example a health camp or similar activities where a bigger area is needed and the school can be used,” Singh further said.

However, opinion is clearly divided. “This is a very good decision. Previously such activities used to be very frequent but not now,” said Haripada Ghosh, headmaster, Vidyanagar HS School, Unakoti district.

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‘Will also miss gatherings’

Nabadit Bhattacherjee, a student of Class 11, thinks it is a very good decision by the education department but he will also miss such gatherings.

“I want to clear my UPSC exam and be a civil servant. In these gatherings, when the political leader of a party is addressing and where we have people from all walks of life to share their problems, I feel students like me also get to know about the existing problems and what people want,” he said. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) holds entrance exams for recruitment of bureaucrats.

Other students, however, are relieved and feel it was a much-needed step. “I know a few boys who after attending such programmes threaten other students, dictate terms and ask others to follow,” said Sneha Shutradhar, another Class 11 student who aspires to be an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer. “They get the wrong notion that they have become leaders just because the party they support had organised a programme in the school and these students had become friends with the leaders.”