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Children taking lessons under the scorching sun as school building lies on paper
After demolishing the decades old crumbling school building in Paiyur village, the government assured the villagers of a new 2-room structure to be built in its place. 7 months on, the school is yet to materialise forcing children to study in the brutal heat.
A primary school in Paiyur village near Thiruvennainallur in Tamil Nadu is taking lessons for its students under a tree since the past 7 months. Before you start visualising an ideal situation like the gurukul of yore or the famous Shanti Niketan, stop right there. It is not by choice that the school is doing this, but it is due to lack of a building since the decades-old one was demolished in December last year.
On Monday, the students of the school, along with the members of Student Federation of India (SFI) association, filed a petition with the Villupuram Chief Education Officer (CEO) seeking an official direction to the education department to construct a new school building as soon as possible.
Prakash, a resident of Paiyur and an SFI organiser says that the primary school building, built in 1967, was demolished in Dec 2015 due to its bad shape.
“The officials in-charge of the demolition work informed the villagers that they have sent a ₹12 lakh reconstruction proposal to the government, and that a 2-room building would be constructed within 3 months. 7months have passed since then, but there has been no action,” he added.
Having no building has not stopped the 64 students from Class I to from attending classes in the scorching sun. Though the parents have complained to the headmaster that long hours in the sun were tiring the children out, no action has initiated. With no building, even basic amenities like drinking water and toilet facilities too have gone missing, adding to the children’s woes.
With 6 months already on the calendar and no sight of the promised new building coupled with the impending arrival of the south west monsoon within a couple of days, around 50 students approached the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on Monday.
The petition was handed over to the other officials as the CEO wasn’t available at that time.
Later, when contacted, Villupuram CEO, S Mars confirmed that the ₹12 lakh proposal has been sanctioned, and the work would begin this month. “We have asked the education department officials to seek the permission of the village panchayat president to conduct classes at the village temple for the time being,” he added.
Looking at the general lethargy of the government machinery to swing into action given that 7 months have already passed since the school building was demolished, a parent lamented, “We do not know how long it will take to have a proper school building for our children to study well.”
Image used for representational purpose only