KOLKATA: Two years of pandemic, their entry to school being prohibited, and online classes from home: these are reasons enough for students to lose enthusiasm. But now that schools have started calling students back to campuses, the youngsters again have something to look forward to. And, there can’t be a better occasion than Saraswati Puja to return to school, meet friends and teachers and celebrate the festival of knowledge together.
With the campuses reopening on Thursday, the youngsters immediately got down to decorating their institutes, bringing idols and drawing alpanas. Reflecting Kolkata’s spirit of camaraderie, students belonging to the Muslim community are taking the lead in organising the puja in a central Kolkata school. Taking a cue from Trinamool’s 2021 assembly election war cry, “Khela Hobe”, a Ballygunge Science College has made it their theme this year. A school in Howrah will felicitate five citizens for their contribution to society.
At Taltala High School, a majority of the students hail from the Muslim community. During Saraswati Puja, they take the lead in organising the puja and decorating the campus, reinforcing the festival’s inclusive nature in Bengal. “It is not a token gesture. Muslim students in our school play a big role in organising the puja, arranging for food and decorating the premises. They even go for immersion,” said headmaster Ritwik Kundu.
At MC Kejriwal Vidyapeeth in Howrah’s Liluah, students and teachers will felicitate citizens who have been helping out others, despite their own hurdles in life. “Our teachers and students have identified people who are achievers in their own capacity. Instead of giving up, they decided to brave the odds and now they are examples for others. Among them is a woman bus driver, a woman auto driver, a student who made sanitizer and masks and distributed among the poor and a professor who overcame disability,” said Kishan Kumar Kejriwal, chairman of the school.
Khela Hobe is the theme at Ballygunge Science College. “The idea is to create political awareness among students,” said Abhirup Chakraborty from the institute.
But none has forgotten the Covid-safety protocols. “Students will be allowed to enter the campus in small batches. Once the programme is over, they will have to leave,” said the principal of a north Kolkata college.
