Disgruntled over a shift in school timings, over 100 parents of Udgam School for Children on Saturday staged a silent protest outside the school campus. Through a recent circular, the school introduced two shifts: one, from 7.00 am to 12.00 pm; the other, from 12.30 pm to 5.30. Fifteen days were given to the parents to make their suitable choice.
"The new timings will not just be favourable to students, but also to all types of families – early and late rising and working and non-working parents. For families where both parents are working, the school will give an option for Before School Activity (BSA) from 10.30-12.30 at nominal cost after which students can go to their class," the circular stated.
One of the parents, Neeraj Raghuvanshi, said: "Udgam is one schools which carries out a survey with parents before taking a decision. Parents are made a party to their decisions, but when it came to time change we were not informed. Students whose both parents are working often chose education here as it provided a great time which was suitable for most of us."
"Secondly, we have been given only 15 days to take a decision. While we cannot change our jobs in 15 days, it is difficult to search for help during that time as well as it is difficult to put our kids in some activity. We have requested the management to give us more time to decide, plan and manage with the new timing," he said.