School to re-open on May 2 as parents oppose closure move

After moving a proposal to shut the Wazir Ram Singh Pathania Memorial School, Gurchal, the school management has now decided to drop the proposal and re-open the school from May 2.

The decision was taken after strong opposition by the parents of the children studying in the school.

As many as 28 people including 23 students of the school were killed after the school bus they were travelling in rolled down a gorge at Malkwal near Nurpur town on April 9. The school was shut ever since the incident took place.

It is learnt that the local administration had asked the school management to take a final call on the fate of the institution as it was shut for long now. Following which the school management wrote a letter to the authorities informing them about the proposal for the closure of the school.

“It brings me great sadness to inform you that after considerable thought and discussions with the school society and teachers, we have decided to close Wazir Ram Singh Pathania Memorial School from May 2018,” school chairman Daljeet Singh wrote in a letter to the education department.

However, after learning about the management’s decision, a large number of parents gathered outside the school campus and opposed the move, they also refused to take transfer certificate of their children.

“We were not in a state of mind to run the school. But since the parents have opposed the move, we will reopen the school on May 2,” said Sunita Kumari, school principal.