The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Suburban schools lacking even basic facilities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 05, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Suburban schools lacking even basic facilities

K. Manikandan

Classrooms become toilets, den for anti-social elements

LEAVES MUCH TO BE DESIRED: Students of the Panchayat Union Middle School at Kelithipettai of Sirukalathur village are forced to sit in the open. — Photo : K. Manikandan

TAMBARAM : A survey of schools in the suburbs point to continuing neglect of even basic facilities, whether it is anganwadis (preparatory schools), primary or even higher secondary schools.

Cramped buildings, ramshackle shed-like classrooms, halls that have become hideouts for anti-social elements and at some places, public toilets are typical of the schools.

There are schools where students begin their day not with a prayer, but by scrubbing the walls of obscene posters and cleaning the floors of filth and dirt.

While there is talk of a uniform syllabus, improving quality of education and nurturing the talents of children, the most important and immediate requirement was to improve the conditions in schools, parents feel.

Forced to sit in corridor

For instance, in Kelithipettai, Sirukalathur village, that was witness to a violent clash recently, school children of the Kunrathur Panchayat Union Middle School were forced to sit in the corridor due to shortage of classrooms. The school was started in 1912 and at present has a strength of 563 students. But there is provision for only about 400 students, the reason why students were forced to sit in the open.

Students clean walls

Till a couple of years ago, students of the school had to clean the premises of empty liquor sachets before settling down for class. And the condition of the Middle School run by the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department of Kancheepuram District at Anakaputhur has to be seen to be believed. In the absence of even a compound wall, miscreants manage to enter the classrooms during the night, consume liquor and use it as a toilet.

Officials in charge of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan said with the increased outlay, constructing buildings was not a problem, but red-tape at various levels of the government came in the way. Officials of the Department said works would soon commence to sort out the problems and carry out repair works at the school. The schools at Sirukalathur and Anakaputhur are not exceptions; many others in Pallavaram, Tambaram and Alandur areas apart from the villages in the city fringes all face similar problems. Members of a Parent Teacher Association of a government school in Tambaram said that instead of making rhetorical statements, the government should be more active in addressing the plight of teachers and students due to want of basic facilities.

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