New school timings irk parents

Parents of Sir JJ Girls High School, Fort protested over school timings on Monday.

The school had changed its timing from morning to afternoon for the secondary section as the nearly 200 year old school building was under renovation. But the parents complained that the new timings which are from 12.30pm to 5.30pm are unsuitable especially for girls as they get caught in the rush hour traffic and reach home late.

Nearly hundreds of parents from the school demonstrated in the school premises holding placards and shouting slogans of ‘Change our school timings’ on Monday. “The school management has been giving us false reassurances for the past one year that they would change the school timings but nothing has been done yet,” said a parent.

Children from as far as Dahisar and Parel take the train everyday to school. Some parents who live in Bhendi Bazaar, Masjid Bandar, Mazgaon said that when the school gets over at 5.30pm, their children do not reach home before late evening, and these areas are especially dangerous during that time for girls. “My daughter was eve teased once while coming back from the school at 7pm. How can we even trust the school bus driver then?” said another parent.

“We understand that parents are unhappy about the current timings and it has caused them inconvenience. Our renovation work is still under progress, many classrooms are being painted and we had to manage the timings for three batches accordingly. Our chairperson has gone to Gujarat and will meet parents immediately once he is back on July 8,” said Elizabeth Fernandes, principal of the school.