Chaos in Bangalore as schools remain shut

Bangalore: With many city schools unsure about whether they would remain shut till Sunday night, scenes of confusion and chaos were witnessed outside school premises in prominent areas on Monday.

The traffic police were seen trying to ease out the traffic jams on Monday morning. Since many school autos and vans had not turned up, parents were seen dropping off their children.

The confusion began when the main gates of some schools in central and south Bangalore remained closed, without any notice. "Parents started crowding outside the schools and some even parked their two-wheelers on the main roads to check if the school was open. This had a cascading effect on the traffic," said Jagadish, a constable in south Bangalore.

The schools decided to protest for a week against the state government\'s lack of clarity on the Right to Education.

Parents argued that there were no parking facilities outside the schools and the gates remained closed. "We are stuck in traffic and the school phone numbers were busy for hours. No one has any idea what is happening," said Parmeet, a parent.

Further, the auto drivers explained that many private drivers did not know what the protest was about, so they chose not to work, fearing chaos. "No one has any idea why the schools are closed. Many parents had called up auto drivers to pick their children up. However, if the school was closed, then the auto drivers would have had to abandon their other work and drop them back. So many didn’t turn up," said Isham Ulla, a Jayanagar auto driver.

Confusion emerged after Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association (KUSMA) and member schools decided to protest for a week against the state government's lack of clarity on the application of Right to Education (RTE).

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