Assam: Cachar stir against closure of school turns into show of communal harmony

SILCHAR: Protests erupted after Khurshed Ali-Sukhdeb Nath High School, a symbol of communal harmony in Sonai locality of Cachar district, was ordered to close and merge with a neighbouring school along with 195 more secondary schools in Assam.
A large number of guardians and locals on Saturday had a meeting in the school, situated at a nondescript village named Bhakrarpar, 18 km from here and said the school should be allowed another year to prove its performance.
“The high school, jointly named after two persons of different religious groups of the village, is a symbol of traditional communal harmony prevailing in this part of the district.
However, by shutting down the school, the government is undermining the symbol of communal amity among the villagers, most of them from economically backward backgrounds,” said Neelkanta Nath, who presided over the meeting.
Headmaster of Pradeep Kumar Nath said every year barring this one, the school’s results have been good. Last year, due to the pandemic, schools were closed for a long time. Being students from poor families, they could not afford Android phones to attend online classes.