Holiday declared after monkey enters school, snatches students’ food

The students were asked to go home by noon on Wednesday and Thursday owing to the monkey’s disturbance. On Thursday evening, however, the monkey was caught by the forest department with the help of the villagers.

The Sothukuppam government higher secondary school is located at the Sothukuppam village near Kancheepuram and it accommodates nearly 600 students.

On Wednesday morning, the monkey entered the campus and began to jump to all the classes and snatch food away from the students. Soon chaos ensued as some students began to chase the monkey while others ran off in fear. To control the situation, the school management declared a holiday and asked the students to go home.

Then the management tried to catch the monkey, but gave up soon after thinking that it will leave the place by itself after some time. But on Thursday morning while the classes were on, the same monkey entered the campusagain and started targeting lunch boxes. Following this, the Maduranthagam forest department was informed.

Meanwhile, the news spread in the village that the monkey which entered inside the campus was attacking the students and soon villagers gathered in front of the school. The forest department asked the management to announce a holiday and after the students vacated the school, forest department officialswith the help of the villagers caught the three-year old male monkey using nets.

The school headmaster Vasudevan said that this is the first time that a monkey had entered the campus and caused trouble.