Darjeeling boarders stay back
“None of the residential schools have sent their students out of Darjeeling. We’re continuing with our daily school activities and programmes for the children,” said the principal of St Joseph’s School and secretary of all heads of educational institutes of Darjeeling, Father Kinley Tshering. “They’d requested all schools to send the students back, but it’s up to us whether or not to comply.”
GJM called a strike in demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland in the northern part of West Bengal. They also wanted three police officials to be transferred for allegedly instigating people against GJM, according to media sources.
Father Kinley told Kuensel that things are peaceful at present although the whole town is closed and empty. “Our boarders are safe and sound,” he said.
Local media, however, said that about 300 students of the nine residential schools in Kalimpong left town. Most of the students who left were from neighbouring areas like Sikkim, Bhutan and the north Bengal plains.
The strike, which was supposed to come into force at noon on July 13, was delayed by an hour to allow people last minute purchase of essentials, said sources.
Many school heads told local media that if the students were asked to vacate the hostels and leave the hills, it would be difficult to convince the parents to send them back. Schools have their hostels on the same compound as the classrooms and the authorities of these institutes feel that, if they can stock up on food items, the students will not face any problems.
Father Kinley said that the strike might not last for more than a week.
