Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 13, 2007
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Tamil Nadu
K. Manikandan
Anything for education: A class in progress at the St.Thomas Mount Panchayat Union Primary School in Amman Nagar, Tirusulam.
TAMBARAM: It is easier to list the amenities available in this primary school than the facilities that are absent. The St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union Primary School in Amman Nagar, Tirusulam, lacks all facilities an elementary school ought to possess. In the absence of a noon meal kitchen, students are not provided their nutritious lunch; the school lacks toilets and there are no water supply, no shelves or racks. But the 122 children have only one thing: Sheer will power to learn and shine. The effects of Activity Based Learning are obvious. The students, mostly first-generation learners from poor families, recite English rhymes fluently. The charts and cards are all there, but at the end of the day, they are bundled up and kept in houses nearby as the school has no facilities to keep them in safe custody. Ravaged by quarrying
The street leading to the school — functioning on the terrace of a rented marriage hall — is just like any other street in Tirusulam, that has been ravaged by the effects of decades-long quarrying. Almost all 122 students are children of parents working in stone quarries and crushing units that dot Tirusulam. Students between I and III standards occupy the cramped terrace of a marriage hall, whose owner has been asking the school authorities to vacate. The terrace is surrounded by a wall that is just two feet in height posing risks to students. Narrow passage
The flight of steps leading to the terrace is narrow. The terrace is covered by a sheet of cement asbestos and students get roasted during daytime. In the absence of a nutritious noon meal, let alone the three eggs in a week scheme, students bring food packed from home. The children also bring water from their houses, as not even a drop of water is supplied to this school. There is a middle school near the Tirusulam village panchayat office and another in nearby Moovarasampettai village. But they were about two km away and parents of Amman Nagar fear sending their children to these schools as they would be exposed to the risk of sharing road space with rashly driven tipper lorries transporting gravel. Residents of Amman Nagar wondered how the condition of this school could escape the attention of the Kancheepuram district administration and the Education Department. “Elected representatives of local bodies and officials of government departments received the best attention: Can they ever function in offices with such facilities,” asked a parent and a member of a civic group in Tirusulam who did not want to be named. Parents demanded that the State Government take steps to identify land in Amman Nagar and construct proper buildings with the necessary facilities at the earliest. Officials of the Education Department said they had initiated steps for providing the required facilities at the school and were hopeful of a positive development soon.
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