KOZHIKODE: Rising input cost and no income forced P K Padmarajan, manager, Malaparamba Aided UP School(AUP), to shut it down even amidst widespread protest. For many years, the management could not even recruit teachers. Reason? Declining number of students. “In 1996, when I bought the school from ex-manager Sethulakshmi,I wanted to sustain it. The number of wards decreased from 100 to 44. When nearly `1 lakh was spent per month for maintenance and providing necessary facilities, parents were reluctant to send them to the school,” said Padmarajan.
He claimed the school became uneconomic and failed to attract the required number of at least 25 students in each class for several years. When he requested the Directorate of Public Instruction( DPI) for its closure on March 1, 2010, the school had only 45-odd students from Class 1 to VII, eight teachers and two support staff members. “In 2003, I obtained aided status for the school. Within a few years, a portion of the school building that had six classrooms would have to be pulled down for the widening of Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu road. Almost `5 lakh to 10 lakh is necessary to rebuild a school as per DPI guidelines.”
Padmarajan has not yet taken a decision on handing over the 27 cents of land to the government. “Even if the government plans to take over the school, I will not part with it,” he said.