Students block key stretch in Jolarpet town, demanding resumption of special classes

They also want the headmistress of the school to be retained

Students of Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School in Jolarpet staging a protest in front of the campus on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Students of the Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School in Jolarpet town blocked the Jolarpet - Tirupattur Main Road on Wednesday demanding that the headmistress of the school be retained and that special coaching for higher classes be resumed.

The police said that around 7.30 a.m. a large number of students, mostly from X, XI and XII classes, gathered in front of the school. They blocked the road by sitting on the carriageway of the stretch and demanded resumption of special classes, which were conducted for an hour in the morning and evening hours.

A team of revenue officials and Jolarpet police, led by K. Sivaprakasam, tahsildar (Tirupattur), reached the spot. By that time, the teachers, including the headmistress of the school, also came to the school and asked the students to get back to the campus.

However, students were firm on their demand that special classes and other extra coaching that were given for them for the Board Examinations be resumed. “After the complaint of a student against us, we decided to discontinue all special classes and extra coaching to students from Tuesday onwards. The rest of the students are upset with our decision,” said M. Shanthi, headmistress.  

Based on the orders of the Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian to conduct an inquiry into the allegations against the school staff, Muni Subbarayan, Chief Educational Officer (CEO), Tirupattur, inspected the school and advised the students to go back to classes. Around 11 a.m, the students returned to their classes.

“We found the charges against teachers, including the headmistress, were baseless. As the affected student was absent today (Wednesday), we will give counselling to her when she returns to classes,” Mr. Subbarayan told The Hindu.

Initial inquiry revealed that last Friday, Ms. Shanthi had told a class XI student that her parents should give a written explanation for her being irregular to school. Along with her, the parents met Ms. Shanthi and argued about the alleged verbal abuse by her. The video of the incident went viral on social media. This made the school authorities to discontinue special classes and other extra coaching for higher classes.

Parents and education officials said that due to joint efforts by teachers and students, the school was able to achieve 100% results in X and XII board examinations for the past two years. Enrolment of class eleven increased from 113 students (2021-22) to 163 students (2022-23). Such special classes and extra coaching played a key role in fine tuning students for the board examinations, they said.