FIFA fever: Late-night high voltage football World Cup finale has gripped Indians across the age groups
The football World Cup final between Germany and Argentina is expected to take a toll on attendance on Monday in schools and colleges across India. The high-voltage match, including the prize ceremony, is expected to go till 3.30am on Monday leading to mass absenteeism.
Many students, as small as six years old, have already decided to bunk school on Monday, just like their seniors in universities and colleges.
Working professionals with both the government and private sectors have applied for casual leave in advance to enjoy the "once in four-year moment".
"I can miss school for a day but can't think of missing the final knock. Germany and Argentina both have high stakes, but Germany is my favourite," said an eight-year-old 'expert', Shreyans, who studies in an Andheri school in Std III.
Students of Campion and St Peters schools in Mumbai "lobbied" hard for a day's closure. The demand was not met though.
Several schools and colleges witnessed higher absenteeism on Wednesday and Thursday due to late night semi-final matches. Most courses in universities and colleges start classes as early as 7am.
Sangeeta Kohli, principal of SK Somaiya College, Ghatkopar, admitted, "More than 50% students bunked morning lectures on both days. Classrooms would be almost empty on Monday too, but we can't help it. University rules don't permit us to declare a holiday arbitrarily."
"We pushed hard for shifting the lectures, but principal cited 'rules'. They must understand that even if we attend the class, we won't be able to concentrate due to little sleep. Why can't rules be student-friendly?" rued students of Mumbai university.
For a change, women, who usually don't have much interest in cricket due to its abundance and also because their men are too obsessed with it, have signalled the no-objection card, relieving their husbands and children. In fact, they too are following the World Cup keenly.
Ritwik Ghoshal, a diehard fan, said, "FIFA 2010, which was in South Africa, was a bore. But this world cup has been extraordinary. Lots of goals have been scored and several matches went till penalty shoot-out, making the tournament more exciting. The star players too kept the fire alive."
St Mary's School relaxes Monday timings
Considering students' fascination for football, St Mary's School in Mazgaon has pushed the school timing from 9am to 11.15am. A circular in this regard was issued to students on Friday. Wilfred Noronha, vice-principal, told dna, "We know children are big fans of football and are following FIFA matches closely. As World Cup comes once in four years, we decided to give them some relief." This is the first such move by the school which completed 150 years recently, admitted Noronha
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