It's been two months since the building of the Panchayat Union Middle School in V Mamandur after a portion of the building collapsed, injuring four kids. While some students have been forced to continue their studies on the verandah or under the shade of trees, senior students are attending their classes from a church and a temple. V Mamandur village is located in Kallakkurichi district in Tamil Nadu.
The building collapsed on September 13 this year and since then the members of the School Management Committee (SMC) have been urging the government to provide an alternative space for the students till the construction work is complete. The school has 272 children and with the start of the monsoon classes being held under the trees have been affected.
Despite multiple requests, the Education Department allegedly neglected the SMC representation to inspect the building before the collapse. The unfortunate mishap which resulted in four children being injured could have been avoided if the Department had taken timely action, according to the SMC.
The school was facilitated by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kamarajar during the early 1960s. School teachers said the infrastructure was not enough to accommodate the students and the institution lacked sanitation facilities. On September 13, students Bharath, Susmita, Madhumita, and Simran, all aged 11, sustained injuries when the building collapsed. Bharat sustained severe head injuries and underwent treatment in a private hospital.
A team headed by Mani, District Planning Officer inspected the school on September 14. After the inspection with engineers, he ordered the demolition of the entire school building as it was deemed unsafe. The team also promised speedy construction with adequate classrooms to house all students. But the promises are yet to be fulfilled. TNM spoke with school teachers, parents, and the leaders from the local governance to know how it impacted the school children and affected the functioning of the school.
Seethalakshmi, president of the School Management Committee (SMC), said that the committee members have not been given any update regarding the construction of the new school building.
“Officers visit the school and leave, all the time. Whether these students will have a school or not is the biggest question mark here and officials are not answering that question” she said. According to Seethalakshmi, most students are from the Schedule Caste (SC) community. Holding classes in the premises of Mariamman temple, located in a street where people belonging to Backward Caste (BC - Kudiyanavas) are staying, has also made some people uncomfortable. “While there is no direct caste-based discrimination, we can feel the discomfort being expressed in the streets where BC communities live,” she said, explaining the difficulties involved in running classes from the temple premises.
A total of six classes are currently being held outside the school campus utilising buildings of a church, a temple, and a women’s self-group. Students from first and second grades are attending classes in the head mistress’s office and her office veranda. “But this is not a permanent solution for the issue. We need a proper school. To gather all the students under a single roof, we planned to put up a temporary shed and collected donations from SMC members and parents of the kids,” said Seethalakshmi. But unfortunately, the construction of the temporary sheds had to be stopped halfway through due to lack of funds.
“We have to go to buildings located in various parts of the village to teach the students,” says Selladurai, who teaches science to students of grades six to eight and commutes by bike. When TNM contacted him, he was teaching students inside the campus, under the tree worrying about the rain.
“It has been nearly two months. Officials from the administration visit the school every week but we could not see any progress” he said. He also said neither the district administration nor the block development office has offered alternative space to run the classes. “We ask students to return home if it rains. We have no other choice,” he said.
Some residents have come forward to help the students to continue their classes by renting out their houses for classes, said Verlmurugan, a member of the SMC. “My three children are studying in this school. The real hurdle is to distribute the mid-day meals to the kids. Anganwadi workers have to visit all the locations to serve the food to the students”, he said.
Temporary shed construction stopped due to lack of funds (Image: Special Arrangement)
According to him, when SMC reached out to the district administration to get permission for temporary sheds, the District Collector gave nod. But SMC was told that there was no adequate fund to put up the temporary sheds and asked to construct the sheds with funds collected from the local residents. “Panchayat and SMC held discussions with parents where the latter agreed to fund the temporary sheds,” he said. Till now, SMC was able to collect funds from 20 parents. The committee also contributed to constructing the temporary sheds.
“We are taking all steps to prevent students from dropping out. A few days back, we set up a water tank inside the campus and repaired the damaged water pipelines that are connected to the toilets,” said Mayandi, president, V Mamandur panchayat. He said there was no delay on part of the government officials and that they are doing their part.
In 2021-22, around 1.90 lakh students who dropped out of schools in Tamil Nadu were readmitted with the help of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan under the School Education Department. In Kallakurichi, as many as 650 students were readmitted to schools before the start of the current academic year with help from the district administration. The administration estimated that nearly 2,793 students from grades VI to XII had dropped out of the school due to various reasons including pandemic induced lockdowns, pay cuts, and loss of employment.
TNM reached out to Kallakurichi Chief Educational Officer Saraswathy to learn about the steps taken by them to resolve the issue but she said she was not aware of it. Kallakurichi District Collector Sravan Kumar Jatavath told TNM that alternative arrangements for the classrooms will be provided to the school students soon. School Education Commissioner K Nandakumar told TNM that he has written to the Directorate of Elementary Education regarding the issue.