TIRUCHY: A six-decades-old government primary school for tribal students in Nachilipatty village of Thenpuranadu panchayat is in dilapidated condition with leaky roof filling up classrooms with water during rain, rue villagers. The school, established 62 years ago, has around 20 children in Classes 1 to 5 and two teachers.
Almost all the villagers completed their formal education from the primary school that lacks the necessary infrastructure, said Murugesan P, a villager. He added, "The building is weak and the roof is damaged, causing rainwater to fill up classrooms.
The school does not have a compound wall. We have appealed to the district administration several times but nothing has changed." When contacted, panchayat president Banumathi K said they have adopted resolutions on the issue in recent gram sabha meetings.
"The school is one of the oldest in the area. It was inaugurated during former chief minister K Kamaraj's term. Nothing has been done to improve the school since. We have also given proposals to renovate the Anganwadi located next to the primary school," she said.
School sources, too, iterated that teachers and students find it difficult to sit inside the classes during rain. There is a government order to renovate or reconstruct school buildings that are more than 40 years old.
Following this, the school authorities applied for a new building but nothing has happened yet, sources said. We have also appealed to recruit more teachers and add facilities to attract more students to join the school, they added. When TNIE reached out to a district-level school education department official, he said he would look into the issue.