Teachers demand vacation

TT, Siliguri, May 24: Teachers of Siliguri Hindi High School submitted a memorandum to the district inspector of schools yesterday, alleging that the institution continued to remain open despite a notification from the state government to close state-run schools for summer vacation from May 19.

"All the state-run schools in Siliguri are closed for summer vacation from May 19. But the authorities of Siliguri Hindi High School have refused to shut the school. The authorities refused to listen to our grievances. So, we submitted a memorandum to the district inspector of schools yesterday, seeking his intervention," a teacher of the school said.

Pran Gobinda Sarkar, the district inspector of schools, said: "It is true that the school authorities have defied the state government's order. I have issued a show-cause notice to the school asking it to explain the reason for the defiance."

Akhilesh Chaturvedi, the school headmaster, said: "The school enjoys a linguistic minority status. We make our own schedule for holidays. We do not follow the schedule stipulated for the state-run schools. The school was closed from April 7 to May 15 to accommodate police forces for the Assembly polls and we are trying to make up for that. We will have summer vacation for the students from June 21 to July 4."