Defying the directive of the government and the District Administration to declare holiday on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary on Thursday, several private schools – including some renowned institutions such as the Delhi Public School, DAV Gandhinagar, DAV Kapil Dev and Bridgeford Public School – remained open on Thursday.

Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray, in a tweet on Wednesday, said, “All schools of Ranchi to remain closed tomorrow on 23rd January 2020 as the day has been declared a public holiday by the Jharkhand CMO.”

However, only a few schools took the directive seriously. Most of the ICSE schools, including St. Xavier’s Doranda and Sacred Heart School Hulhundu, declared a holiday on Thursday on account of Subash Chandra Bose Jayanti. The schools that did not declare a holiday had their own reasons. Some said that the directive did not mention anything about private schools, while many were unwilling to reschedule examinations that were supposed to be conducted on Thursday. 

“The directive from the District Administration did not specify anything about private schools. Also, many students had their exams on Thursday, and closing the school might have disturbed the exam schedule,” said Principal of DPS Ranchi, Ram Singh. The decision of whether a school has to have classes or not on a given day is usually taken independently by the school authority, he added.

Ranchi DC Rai Mahimapat Ray, however, said that most of the schools in Ranchi remained closed on Thursday. The administration cannot force schools to declare holiday, he added. “Most of the schools remained closed today. Some schools had exams and some had other reasons to stay open,” he said, refusing to comment on whether the Administration would take any action against the schools that defied the directive or not.

The directive assumes significance as it came directly from the Chief, who on Tuesday announced that January 23 will be public holiday in Jharkhand on account of the birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose.

Interestingly, the date was removed from the list of public holidays in Jharkhand for five years – from 2015 to 2019 – during a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government. The Gomoh railway station in Jharkhand has been named after Subash Chandra Bose as he made his great escape from the railway station by catching the Howrah-Kalka Mail during the British rule in India.