Schools given 12 hours to evacuate students

DARJEELING: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) on Wednesday offered a 12-hour “window” on June 23 to schools in the Darjeeling hills to evacuate their students to Siliguri and Rongpo.

“The central committee of our party has decided to offer a 12-hour window, from 6am to 6pm on June 23, to schools in the hills to evacuate their students. They will be allowed to go to Siliguri and Rongpo only in school buses. The indefinite shutdown will continue. Only students will be allowed to leave safely,” senior GJM leader Binay Tamang told reporters.

Darjeeling is home to some of the oldest and most renowned boarding schools in the country, but with the GJM-sponsored indefinite shutdown, school authorities are at their wits’ end as regards how to send the students home.

Tamang said barring school buses, no other vehicle would be allowed to leave.

An indefinite bandh was called by GJM on June 15. With supplies running out and vacations to start shortly, the boarding schools are facing a harrowing time.

“We are facing two problems presently. One is of the supply of food stock and another is of sending the students home,” Rabindra Subba, principal of Himali boarding school, said.

“It will be a logistical nightmare for us as we have more than 500 residential students and we have already booked their tickets for June 24, when the summer vacation begins,” said Roby Subba, director of Himali Boarding School in Kurseong.