By IANS,
Kolkata : Two schools in West Bengal observed a holiday to mourn the ‘death’ of a retired teacher who was later found to be alive.
The goof-up occurred in Ashokenagar of North 24-Parganas district last week over the news that Bibhuti Chakraborty, who retired as head master of Sendanga Chaturdashpalli Primary School, had died following a cardiac arrest, a local media report said.
As the ‘news’ came in last Tuesday, the school declared a holiday Wednesday and also held a condolence meeting in Chakraborty’s memory.
The adjoining Sendanga Chaturdashpalli Junior High School, where Chakraborty had studied, also declared a holiday in his memory.
Chakraborty’s family members learnt about the schools being closed and informed the school officials that although he had been hospitalised, he was alive.
“We should have been more careful. It has been wrong on our part to declare a holiday without confirming whether the news of death was true,” said Sendanga Chaturdashpalli Junior High School head master Shital Roy.