Denied entry, govt-aided school students attend classes on road in U.P. capital

Nearly 500 students of government-aided Centennial Inter College in U.P. capital were forced to attend their classes outside the school gate after their teachers and they were denied entry following a dispute over the school building

Nearly 500 students of government-aided Centennial Inter College here were forced to attend their classes outside the school gate after their teachers and they were denied entry following a dispute over the school building.

students of government-aided Centennial Inter College in Lucknow attending their class outside the school on Thursday. (Deepak Gupta/HT photo)

Giving this information, spokesperson for Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh RP Mishra said teachers took English and mathematics classes outside the school gate. District inspector of school, Lucknow, Rakesh Kumar Pandey, who along with police visited the college in the afternoon, said, “Recently, another school has started running on the premises of this government-aided school.”

Mishra said a delegation of Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh recently met state secondarily education minister Gulab Devi in this regard and apprised her of the problems students were facing.

He said when teachers of over 130-year-old school reached there after it reopened following summer vacation on July 1, they found a board of Methodist Church School installed at the college building. All belongings of the school were also found thrown out. Education department officials were at once informed of it. On the advice of education department officials, the school was first closed till July 2 and then till July 6, Mishra added.

District inspector of school Rakesh Kumar Pandey said it was only his third day in office and that the matter was being investigated. He said the new school had taken affiliation from the basic education department which also needed to be probed. Locals said their children used to study in the government-aided school which, as per them, was locked overnight.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in a tweet said, “Will this government do something about the incident of the private school owner occupying government school in Lucknow or the teachers will be forced to run the school on the roads only. Where are those who claim India to make Vishwa Guru?”