A Thane school, where a Class I girl tested positive for H1N1, was on Monday forced to close for three days under pressure from parents of other students.

The management of A K Joshi High School said it was not needed as the six-year-old girl had not been attending class for the last eight working days.

The girl, after her return from UK had attended class on July 31 and August 1.

“Parents of other students, despite being highly educated, were not ready to see reason. There was no point in shutting the school as the said student had not attended school for eight days,” said Dr Vijay Bedekar, chairman of Vidya Prasark Mandal Trust that runs the English medium school.

A Marathi medium school on the same premises has not suspended classes.

Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) health officer Dr R T Kendre said the girl was admitted to Kasturba Hospital and her parents and grandparents have been quarantined.

However, Kendre, as well as the principal of the school, K A Kolhatkar said that they had no information about the girl testing positive, till Sunday evening. The parents of other students learnt about the case through the media much earlier.

In Mumbai, RIIMS, Juhu, J B Waccha, Dadar and Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Bandra have been closed, said Additional Municipal Commissioner (health), Manisha Mhaiskar.

John Connon and Cathedral School, Fort, were closed for a few days after reports of a five-year-old student testing positive. Principal, RIIMS International, Kishore Pillai, said, “Three cases were reported, one each from classes V, VI and VII. They are fine and will be discharged soon. We will reopen on Thursday.”

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