Dog attack: Parents' protest forces school to remain closed

VADODARA: Agitated parents continued to mount pressure on the management of city-based Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's V M Public School for the second consecutive day.
On Saturday morning, parents staged a protest outside the school campus, demanding that the school management accept the resignations of school's principal Hemant Kumar and vice-principal Manisha Sathe.
Parents did not allow children to attend the classes at the school, which is facing flak in connection to Thursday's incident in which a seven-year-old girl Mehnaz Jamali got injured with multiple wounds after she was attacked by a pack of dogs.
"Both the primary and secondary sections of the school had remained closed as all of us had given a call to stop all classes at the school for a week or till the time school's management accepts resignations of principal and vice-principal. We have also demanded that the school management allow formation of a Parents Teachers Association before we hold talks with the management," a parent Sameer Patel said.
Parents have decided to intensify their agitation if the school management does not accept the resignations of school officials.
"We may also sit on an indefinite hunger strike if our demands are not accepted," Patel said.
The management maintained its stand that any final call regarding the resignations has to be taken by Mumbai-based trustees of the school.
"We had kept the school open, but if parents themselves do not co-operate we can't help. All the papers, including the resignations of school office-bearers, and representations made by the parents have been sent to our head office, which will take the final decision in a day or two," director of Bhavan's School looking after Gujarat region Dipak Dalal told TOI.
"We have started making efforts to ensure that problems like waterlogging and hygiene come to an end. But stopping classes will not help in resolving the issues," said Dalal.