Dont set out on excursions during night hours, Kerala government tells schools

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government on Thursday asked schools not to set out on excursions during night hours and said they should ensure proper parking space within their premises for all vehicles that ferry students to and from campus. General Education Minister V Sivankutty said orders restricting night excursions were issued earlier but some institutions were flouting it. He also said the practice of some private schools of excluding students who cannot afford the excursion, should be curbed. Sivankutty also decried the practice of unaided schools to allow only its own buses or vans to enter the school compound. Owing to such rules, a private van ferrying students to an unaided school fell into a ditch while reversing, injuring many students, he said Sivankutty said disciplinary action was initiated against the headmaster of Government Higher Secondary School, Kundamkuzhy, in Kasaragod, who assaulted a Class X student leading to rupture of his eardrum. The headmaster, M Ashoka, has been transferred to Government HSS, Kadambur, as part of commencing departmental action against him. Sivankutty said the Director of General Education will inquire and submit a report on the incident in which explosives were found near the gate of Vyasa Vidya Peethom Senior Secondary School in Palakkad.