Chennai: ‘High’ time to shut bar next to Ayanavaram govt school

Smell of liquor troubling students after noon every day for years
The Tasmac shop located near Ayanavaram Government Higher Secondary School | P Ravikumar
The Tasmac shop located near Ayanavaram Government Higher Secondary School | P Ravikumar
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CHENNAI: In the bustling neighbourhood of Ayanavaram market stands Chennai Higher Secondary School. The institution has sufficient teachers, including temporary staff, enough classrooms and an actively functioning school management committee. Though the description sounds ideal, the school has an unique issue disturbing teachers and students alike -- the unmistakeable smell of alcohol permeating through the air after 12 noon every day. 

Tipplers enjoying their drink at a Tasmac bar attached to a shop located close by on Konnur High Road has been creating much inconvenience to teachers and students for over five years. Several complaints raised by students and parents to relocate the shop and bar have fallen on deaf ears, sources said. 

A few years ago, students complained to their parents about the smell of liquor making it uncomfortable for them to sit in the classrooms. When parents took up the issue with the teachers, some of the staff initially suspected some students of bringing alcohol into classrooms in their bags. However, a through check proved their guess wrong and the management realised that a bar attacked to a Tasmac shop located close by was the source of trouble.

An SMC member, on condition of anonymity, said, “The school has two blocks with three floors each. Since the backside of the shop and the bar attached to it are very close to school, the smell of alcohol is strongly felt in the classrooms on the ground floor that houses class 9 to 12.” Following repeated complaints from students, the issue was discussed at SMC meetings, and petitions urging authorities to close the shop were sent to the school education department officials. However, no action has been taken so far, the member alleged.

The impact of such constant exposure to alcohol on schoolchildren from a very early age has raised serious concern about their future among parents. Urging the authorities to immediately close the shop, a parent said, “Government schools frequently conduct meetings to address the issue of increased use of tobacco products among students. Then, how can they permit a liquor shop and bar function so close to a school?”
When asked, officials from the school education department told TNIE that they will take up the matter with the authorities concerned and find a solution to the issue.

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