Polls: Schools to be closed for a week

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">PATNA: The forthcoming Lok Sabha elections are going to affect schools in the city for more than a week. Most of the private and missionary schools in Patna will remain closed for five to seven days as school buses are being seized by the district administration for poll-related work.<br /><br />On the other hand, most schools will also serve as election booths on April 20.Studies are already being hampered in several schools as their teachers have been deputed for election work.<br /><br />Talking to TNN, many school principals said that they have no other alternative, but to close the schools as the attendance will be too little even if the schools remain open. Some even said that schools were being closed for security reasons.<br /><br />But the school authorities are however, not happy with the interference of the state government in academic institutions. Christian Minority Schools'' secretary G J Galstaun said that in other states like Delhi school buses are exempted from elections. "There are so many other buses being run on commercial lines. Why target school buses?" he asked, adding that the administration shows promptness only in sending notices, but they forget when it comes to paying compensation for the use of buses. "It is so difficult to finish the course when schools have to be closed without any reason," he said.<br /><br />"But what to do? We have to cooperate with the administration," said Notre Dame principal Sister M Jayshree. Also it is best to close the school for the safety of children as pre-poll or post-poll violence may occur, she said.<br /><br />DAV BSEB vice-principal Jagat Mohan Kumar informed TNN that his school will have four polling booths and the buses will also be taken away for poll-related work. "We are bound to close the school from April 15 to 21 as a result. What can we do when the government itself is using forcible measures?" he asked.<br /><br />However, the principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya said that his school will close only on the election day despite the fact that 25 school buses will be taken away and more than 2,000 children of the school use those buses.<br /><br />Meanwhile, DM Gautam Goswami stated that schools are being directed to hand over the buses by April 16. More than 5,000 buses are needed, he stated. "However, school buses are last on our priority and we would like to cause the least inconvenience to schools," he said. He also said that a sizable number of schools and colleges will serve as polling booths.<br /><br /><formid=526372></formid=526372></div> </div>