In view of national mourning for Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's demise yesterday, the administration cancelled SVEEP (Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation) programme here on Monday.
However, students and their teachers from various schools, who were not informed, had to return as the event got cancelled.
The rally with more than 200 school children was scheduled to start from JRD Tata Sports Complex early in the morning at 6:30 am but was cancelled late last night due to the national mourning. However, students, accompanied by their teachers, said that they were not informed.
According to information, students from DBMS English School, Gurunanak High School; Jusco School, Kadma, D N Kamani High School had come to join to programme but were returned.
"We were not informed about the cancellation and we came here at 6 am so that the rally could start on time. We were around 20 students in school bus. If the authorities had said that the programme was cancelled, we wouldn't have come," said one of the students.
Students of D.N. Kamani High School waited till 6:45 am inside the JRD Tata Sports Complex when people from the media informed that the programme was cancelled.
Officials of the district education department said that the directive of cancelling the programme came after 8:30 pm and then, they sent Whatsapp messages to all schools in various groups.