Students’ organisation files PIL, demands reopening of schools

The PIL has been filed with the division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava. This is the third petition that has been filed to seek reopening of educational institutions in the state. Earlier, two PILs had been filed before the court by two separate individuals making a similar demand.

“There is a conspiracy going on to break the education system. The basic right to education is being violated, so we have filed a public interest litigation on behalf of the students. All educational institutions should be reopened immediately,” said Wajuddin Ahmed, who along with Imran Hossain filed the petition.

On January 4, the state government had ordered schools and colleges to be shut following a rapid surge in Covid-19 and Omicron cases.

Hossain, who is a student of sociology, said, “The government is indifferent to bringing school dropouts back to school. That is why we have demanded the government to release statistics about the total number of school dropouts in the state and how it plans to bring them back.”

Meanwhile, West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party president Sukanta Majumdar joined the chorus of voices that are demanding schools to reopen. “There is no point instarting ‘Neighbourhood Classes’ if schools remain shut in the state. The priority must be given to resumption of physical classes in schools,” said Majumdar.

On Monday, the West Bengal government had launched the ‘Paray Shikshalaya’ (Neighbourhood Classes) initiative to enable students who had dropped out of school to continue their education.

Starting February 7, the state government will run the initiative for children between six to 10 years of age.