Tamil Nadu   

Garments Exporters Association helps children continue education

— Photo: M. Govarthan

For their future: Thanks to the help from the Textiles and Garments Exporters’ Association, 25 children at JRS Puram, a hamlet in Thalavadi, are able to go to school.

THALAVADY: Rani, forced to discontinue her studies a few months ago, is back to school. So are 25 children like her in JRS Puram, a hamlet about 25 km from here in the midst of jungles. The children are not just back at the school they also have new uniforms, notebooks, slates, and other materials that aid their education.

The students’ return to school has been made possible by the Textiles and Garments Exporters’ Association, Erode, which has begun funding the school.

Rani’s forced discontinuation has to do with funds not reaching the school, which was run under the Education Guarantee Scheme, a part of the Sarva Siksha Abiyan project. As per the scheme, the Government, to ensure education of all children, opened centres at remote places. There were 17 such schools in Erode, including the one at JRS Puram.

The school helped many a tribal children receive education. Subsequently in the absence of funds many such schools were closed and so was JRS Puram School.

The closure forced the children to depend on the next nearest school at Konakarai, about five km. However, being a forest area the parents refused to send the children.

The refusal also had to do with the absence of proper bus facility. "We feared sending our children to such a far away place, what with the area being an elephant territory and having poor bus connectivity," recalls Rani’s mother Sivammal. As a result all the 25 children stopped attending school. Luck came their way when the Association’s Secretary S. Sivananthan stopped at a tea shop in that area. Upon discovering that the children stopped attending the school, he talked to his Association members, who willingly volunteered to fund the school’s functioning. The result, the school’s former teacher E. Nagaraj is back and so are the students.

Mr. Nagaraj receives his salary from the association.

Mr. Sivananthan says the association’s aim is to bring the school on a par with any matriculation school in the plains. “Give us time and we will do it," he promises.

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