Parents, teachers land up at ‘closed’ Guru Nanak School

NAGPUR: On Thursday, around 200 parents landed up at Guru Nanak High School (GNHS) in Bezonbagh armed with a May 15 letter written by the education department directing school authorities to not only start fresh admissions but also to reinstate teachers who had been terminated.
These two processes were stopped as GNHS is in the final stages of closure after the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court upheld the management’s right to shut down in March.With the admission office closed, the parents and school management approached the police anticipating chaos on campus.
While Thursday’s protest by parents and teachers passed off without any incident, the Sikh Education Society (SES) — which is the school management — shot off a legal warning to the education department.
The letter, a copy of which is with TOI, reminded the education department that GNHS’ closure has been done in accordance with the law and on February 28 was endorsed by the HC. Signed by SES advocate Prasad Abhyankar, it goes on to mention that education department must withdraw the May 15 letter failing which SES “may be constrained to initiate legal proceedings including that of contempt of court”.
SES added that the education department seems to have issued the written orders under pressure because it was always aware of legal position of the case.
However, social activist Ashwin Jawadhe, who is leading the parents-students protests, claims that many things are being ‘misinterpreted’. “There is no contempt of court by the education department because the HC’s ruling in February only says that education department cannot give or deny permission for school closure. There are no further directives for the Deputy Director of Education (DDE) and we have actually filed petition before the HC that will come up for hearing on June 8,” he said.
Jawadhe insists that the SES cannot close the school down. “Until all students are absorbed in other schools, which I don’t think is possible, the closure process cannot happen,” he said.
SES’s letter to the education department touches upon the pending petition saying no interim orders were passed nor any stay brought upon.
The education department says parents of Guru Nanak School (GNS) need not worry because all children will be absorbed in other schools. Anil Pardhi, DDE, said, “I assure every parent of the school to not be worried about their child’s future. The HC has rightly mentioned that the education department will ensure absorption of students and that process has started and by June 8 we will be ready with the details. The department has always put the interest of the student first and it won’t be different in this case either.”