Two schools mourned the death of a teacher and declared a holiday-only to find out later that the man was alive and ended up offering profuse apologies to the offended family.The rumour of the death of Bibhuti Chakraborty, a retired headmaster in Ashoknagar, North 24-Parganas, spread on the night of October 21. Earlier that day, he had been admitted to the Medical College in Kolkata with complaints of heart ailment. The day after, the Sendanga Chaturdashpalli Primary School, where Chakrabarty worked, declared a holiday in his memory. So did the adjoining Sendanga Chaturdashpalli Junior High School, where he had studied.Bikash Chakraborty, brother of the ailing teacher, said the schools should have acted in a more responsible manner. "How can such an incident occur when the teacher’s home is close to the school?” he said.“We should have been more careful. It was wrong on our part to declare a holiday without confirming the news of death,” admitted Shital Roy, headmaster of Sendanga Chaturdashpalli Junior High School.“We pray for his long life and speedy recovery. Once he regains health, we will hold a felicitation ceremony for him,” Roy added.
