Koothattukulam: It was a hard day for several students of the Government Upper Primary School, Koothattukulam in Ernakulam district, as they were forced to wait for over four hours in fancy costumes. All this in vain as minister V N Vasavan, who was scheduled to inaugurate the model pre-primary block, failed to turn up eventually.
The inauguration was fixed at 11 am, and the students were dressed up in various character and traditional-style costumes to make the event colourful. However, the minister couldn’t make it. Soon an announcement came that the programme was being postponed to 2.30 pm even as other dignitaries, including Anoop Jacob, MLA, started to show up.
The teachers took the tired children, dressed up in traditional Kerala saree and other animal character costumes, back to the classrooms. The municipality councilors went back to attend the council meeting.
Post noon, all got ready to welcome the minister, and the children were assembled again. Anoop Jacob and the municipality councilors were back, but the minister failed to arrive yet again. Finally, the MLA inaugurated the event, and the kids presented their special fancy dress display. During his speech, he hinted at his displeasure over making the kids wait for long hours and that too dressed up in fancy costumes.
Headmaster A V Manoj said when they learned that the minister would be late, the programme was rescheduled to the afternoon to provide lunch to the children on time.
Later, minister Vasavan clarified that he couldn’t attend the event at Kootattukulam as he had to unexpectedly participate in certain urgent programmes in the Kottayam district. He added he got in touch with the school authorities and conveyed that he would come another day, to which the latter agreed.
