Schools to move online for poll week; some suspend classes, one plans early summer break
Telegraph | 23 April 2026
Schools have decided to call off classes next week or shift to online lessons in view of the elections.
Buses have been requisitioned for election duty, and a large number of students depend on school buses for their daily commute.
The Heritage School has decided to advance its summer break, while Delhi Public School Ruby Park will remain closed next week.
Julien Day Schools in Calcutta, Howrah and Ganganagar will conduct online classes from April 27 to May 5. The Kalyani branch will go online from Thursday.
Calcutta will vote on April 29.
The Heritage School, which began its academic session on March 23, was scheduled to close for summer vacation from May 1. “Buses will be requisitioned from Monday, and the election is on April 29, so how can we run the school?” said an official of the school.
All children use school buses at Heritage, which operates as a day-boarding institution. The school will function till Saturday to compensate for the missed classes.
Delhi Public School Ruby Park has already conducted classes on three Saturdays to make up for next week.
“Almost 40% of the children use school buses, and they possibly cannot come to school otherwise,” said Joyoti Chaudhuri, principal of DPS Ruby Park.
Owners of pool cars have also informed schools that many of their vehicles have been requisitioned for election duty.
Schools are also concerned about traffic disruptions.
“We are apprehensive of traffic disruption, which will unnecessarily delay children returning home. We are concerned about student safety. Also, with more vehicles off the road and fewer public transport options, both students and teachers will face commuting difficulties. We therefore decided to move to online classes,” said Terence John, director of education and development at Julien Day Schools.
In the absence of public transport, teachers and non-teaching staff may not be able to reach schools on time, disrupting schedules.
Julien Day School, Kalyani, will also be taken over by central forces from April 23. “Once they vacate the premises, we need to thoroughly clean before resuming classes,” John said.
La Martiniere for Girls will conduct online classes one day before and one day after polling, the school announced on Tuesday.
Sri Sri Academy will also run online classes next week. The school plans to announce its decision on Thursday.
Teachers have been instructed to create email IDs for new students admitted this year.
“The decision will apply for four days next week. May 1 is a holiday and April 29 is also a holiday as our teachers will be voting. We do not want to burden them with online classes and voting on the same day,” said Gargi Banerjee, principal of Sri Sri Academy.
The Newtown School will conduct online classes on Monday, while the rest of the week will either be off or online, depending on bus availability. “We have 50 buses and are requesting the service provider to spare at least 8-10 so teachers can come to school on April 28 and 30 to take online classes. We have 220 teachers, and not all of them can be expected to have laptops and stable internet at home,” said Sunil Agarwal of The Newtown School.