KRISHNAGIRI: While the government schools were scheduled to close for holidays after the last half-yearly exam on Monday, this Panchayat Union Primary School in Kadambakutti village of Bettamugilalam panchayat is ahead of the curve. With the headmaster wanting to take a break for medical treatment, he has managed to get the students to finish the exam on Friday and let them take the winter holidays two days earlier.
A spot visit to the school on Monday proved that it stayed shut all day. The school has all of seven students -- two in class V, three in class IV and two in class III. The exam for Monday, according to the department's timetable, was Social Science. However, Headmaster Muniraj (also the only teacher in the school) had gotten the children to complete the exam on Friday.
A parent of one of the students confirmed the news. Other parents have reported the same, they said.
After Collector Dr S Prabhakar and chief educational officer's Personal Assistant Prabhakaran were informed, the Denkanikottai district educational officer was alerted.
Then, Deputy Inspector of School Education Suresh Babu visited the school and confirmed the news in person. He also found that the headmaster had altered the information fed into the Education Management Information System (EMIS) portal to allow for the early break.
While the students had taken up the exam on Friday, he had marked their attendance for Monday.
It was when the officials contacted the headmaster in the evening that he told them about his low blood pressure issue.
He reportedly was taking treatment for it from a clinic and had advanced the exam schedule to allow for that. He said that he had mistakenly registered the students' attendance for Monday instead of Friday.
Chief Educational Officer Murugan said that an inquiry would be conducted.