The statewide educational institutions bandh called by student organisations on Friday saw a mixed response across Hyderabad, with schools, colleges and universities adopting different measures as parents, students and teachers grappled with last-minute decisions on whether campuses would function.
While several private schools declared a holiday, a few others shifted classes online for the first half of the day. Some institutions asked teaching and non-teaching staff to report despite students being given a holiday, while a handful continued regular classes after assessing the situation early in the morning. Several schools also postponed assessment tests scheduled for the day.
The bandh was called by student organisations demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the scrapping of the National Testing Agency (NTA), and action against those responsible for the alleged police assault on students protesting in New Delhi.
The impact of the bandh was visible across school hubs such as King Koti, Himayatnagar, Habsiguda, Nagole and Secunderabad, where the usual rush of school buses, vans and parents dropping off children was missing. Roads around many campuses remained quieter than on a normal weekday, with the evening dispersal traffic also largely absent.
“There was confusion until this morning. We were ready to leave for the school when we got a message saying classes had been cancelled. If schools had informed us earlier, it would have saved parents a lot of uncertainty,” said Sukruthi Rama, a parent from Habsiguda who said the confusion ate into her work time as she had to bring her children back home.
Another parent, Mohit Sharma, said he and his wife had trouble figuring out a way to stay at home at 8.30 am, while they should’ve left to work by then.
Ravietaja, a commuter who travels daily through the King Koti school belt, said the difference was noticeable. “Usually, this stretch is packed with school buses and parents during school closing hours, with children from St Joseph’s, All Saints’, Rosary, Little Flower, St. Philip’s and many others closing around a similar time between 3-4 pm. Today, I crossed the area without getting caught in traffic. It was much quieter than a normal Friday.”
Not all students welcomed the move to online classes; while some of them just wanted to “chill”, others had genuine worries. “Our school switched to online classes, but there was a power cut at my house between 11 am and 11.45 am. I missed part of the class and felt guilty explaining it because it sounded like an excuse, even though it genuinely happened,” said a Class 9 student, Abhinav S.
Universities also altered their schedules. Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) postponed all examinations scheduled for Friday, while Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) deferred several undergraduate and supplementary examinations. Several colleges either suspended classes or postponed internal assessments. Students from schools and colleges were asked to use this time “to prepare for the postponed assessment tests.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
