Kolkata: After an 18-day break, students of classes 5-7 and 11 returned to Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya on Wednesday. Regular classes will begin on Thursday.
The school had declared a closure from July 5 following the death of class-12 student Diptangshu Mahato after drinking scalding tea. The authorities decided to reopen the school in a phased manner. Students of classes 8-10 will return on Thursday, with their classes resuming on Friday. Class 12 students had started attending online classes on Tuesday.
Parents who came to drop off their wards on Wednesday seemed to have regained confidence in the mission authorities. Many of them admitted that while the incident was extremely unfortunate, it was an accident. A parent of a class-5 student said, “It’s true that I became very anxious after hearing about the incident and wanted to bring my child home. However, I now realize they have been taking care of thousands of students’ studies and other activities. Due to a single incident, we cannot blame the entire institution.” A parent of a class-6 student said, “My son was keen to return to school and meet his friends. Moreover, we were getting concerned about his studies.”