Over a100 students from class 5 to class 10 at Don Bosco High School, Matunga have not been allowed to attend classes since Friday, Nov 30, when the school reopened after Diwali vacations. The students who were punished had been absent for a ‘compulsory’ picnic to a water park in Thane that was organised by the school on Nov 10, a day before the vacations began. The absentees were reportedly made to stand outside their classrooms on Friday, as school authorities asked them to call their parents for a clarification.

“My son stood outside the class till recess and then got out and called me up from a PCO. I rushed to school to find that more than 100 parents already waiting,” said a parent of a class 8 student. One of the parents said that he had taken a leave for his child on Nov10 due to family wedding, but the school did not grant it, saying that picnic was compulsory. Parents alleged, “Even after standing for two hours outside the principal’s office, we couldn’t meet him. After meeting 12-14 parents, he left the office citing some important work.”

The parents waited for two hours to meet the principal again on Saturday. Humiliated with the school’s actions, a parent rued, “Our kids didn’t do any crime by not going for the picnic. Picnics are not compulsory so why are they being punished like this?” The school is an aided institution and did not charge for the picnic, confirmed parents.

Principal Fr Bosco D’Mello, however, rubbished the claims of the students and parents. “We didn’t make students stand throughout the day. We just asked them to get their parents for an explanation as attending the last day before vacation begins and the first day after a vacation is mandatory as per rules. How would we know if kids are at home or had fooled their parents and bunked school?” justified D’Mello.

He insisted that only 10-15 students didn’t attend the picnic and that these students were habitual absentees and the school had reprimanded them for the same before. Workload on the first day after school reopened was cited by him as the reason for not being able to meet all parents.

A school education officer said, “Attendance on the last day is mandatory for the staff, not for students.” NB Chavan, assistant director of education, said, “I will ask an education officer to visit the school and look into the matter.”