RENEWAL: The new modular classroom furniture at the St Xavier's Middle School in Cuddalore. — Photo: T. Singaravelou

CUDDALORE: S tudents of St. Xavier's Middle School in Cuddalore have put memories of the tsunami behind them. The tsunami played havoc with their lives, but now the school appears to have got off to a new start.

The school lost seven of its students to the killer waves, and eight lost one or both parents. Situated close to the Uppanar, the 97-year-old school mainly caters for the wards of fishermen and people who work on trawlers and boats.

The school, which had only modest buildings and amenities, has now on its rolls 1,200 students — all boys.

But after the tsunami, when service organisations and non-governmental organisations made a beeline to Cuddalore to lend a helping hand to the traumatised fishing community, the school was one of the beneficiaries.

School Headmaster A. Abel told The Hindu that UNICEF provided modern modular type furniture, and World Vision set up a computer section. The students, who did not have any exposure to computers, were now getting hands-on experience.

Not surprisingly, the students started by playing videogames. They soon progressed to learning how to operate the computer with the help of teachers.

Two-storied building

Service organisations such as Family India and Hand-in-Hand, both from Bangalore, in collaboration with ING-Vysya and Claretian Missionaries, provided Rs 47 lakh for the construction of a two-storied building with eight classrooms, one hall and a modern toilet. A reinforced cement concrete roof at a cost of Rs 7.5 lakh will shortly replace the asbestos roofing in another wing.

Mr. Abel said the tsunami had brought about a radical change in the outlook of fishermen.

Post-tsunami, the feeling among them was that the sea life was full of imponderables and hence their wards should pursue education to take up other jobs.

This had helped bring down the school dropout rate considerably, Mr Abel added.

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