WB: Failed students lock teachers inside school

Class XI students of a school in West Midnapore district who had failed in the annual examination, on Thursday locked up the all the 50-odd staff and secretary after their meeting failed to yield any result.

The students of the Nayabasan Janakalyan Vidyapeeth at Gopiballabhpur said they would not open the gate till they all were promoted to class XII, said Ashok Pattanaik, secretary of the school's managing committee.

Altogether 90 of the 247 students of Class XI of the school had failed in the annual examination conducted by the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education.

The school authorities could not do anything in this regard due to norms of the Council, he said. The question papers of Class XI are set by the council but the assessment of answers scripts are done internally.

The results of the Class XI examination are to be declared by the end of this month across the state. The meeting between students and the authorities including the secretary began at 9 am but failed to resolve the issue till 10.30 when the school was closed for the day, Pattanaik said.

When students of all the others classes left, these 90 students locked the outside gate keeping inside 52 persons -- all the teaching and non-teaching staff and Pattanaik.

Sources in the local police station said they had been informed by the school about the incident but were hesitating to take any action as a large number of school students were involved.