DC's school holiday move earns education minister's rap

LUDHIANA: Declaration of four-day holiday in all schools, including private ones, in the district due to chilly and foggy weather from … by Ludhiana deputy commissioner has earned him a rap from education minister Daljeet Singh Cheema, who said the DC should not taken the decision on his own. Earlier, representatives of some city schools had complained to the education minister against deputy commissioner Rajat Agarwal's move to declare holidays in district schools, claiming that their students suffered with exams coming ahead.On Monday, education minister Daljeet Singh Cheema also asked district education officer (secondary) to send the copy of the order issued by the deputy commissioner. Education minister Daljeet Singh Cheema said, "Yes, I have received some complaints from Ludhiana schools that the DC instructed them to declare holidays in schools for four days. School authorities say that with exams coming up, students need to come to schools." "Today, I have also asked district education department to send me the copy of instruction letter issued by the DC," added Cheema. "Even I feel deputy commissioner should not have called off classes in schools on his own since this matter concerns education department. I will instruct DC to take consent of education department first before issuing such instructions," said the minister. The president of private unaided CBSE schools, Rajesh Rudra said, "There is no sense of complaining to the education minister. We also wanted to approach the DC to urge him to take school authorities into confidence before taking such decisions. It becomes difficult to execute instructions immediately." Sunil Wadhwa, a parent, says, "If district education department or education minister have any problem with DC intervening, then they should declared holidays when our kids were going to school in chilly weather. Complaining to the education minister is not justified at all." Deputy commissioner Rajat Agarwal was not available for comments.