FACT issues eviction notice to Township Higher Secondary School

The school was founded in 1960 when M K K Nair was the managing director of FACT.
Representational Image. (Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)
Representational Image. (Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)

KOCHI: The Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) has issued an eviction notice to the management of FACT Township Higher Secondary School, which is run by FACT Employees Education and Service Society, a society formed by the various employees' trade unions of the company.

The unexpected move has put a question mark on the future of 210 students and 22 teachers in the school at Eloor, near here. The FACT management has placed a notice board in front of the school stating the evacuation process will start by the end of this academic year, and that the parents should take necessary steps to relocate their wards to other schools.

The school was founded in 1968 when M K K Nair was the managing director of FACT. "The FACT estate officer issued a notice in September last year to vacate the property due to pending arrears. However, we tried to contact the FACT officials to hold a meeting in this regard, but there was no favourable reply," said S Jayasree, headmistress of the school. "Most of the students come from financially backward families. Several parents are not in a position to pay fees during the pandemic. The school has no income other than fees collected from students," she added.

A spokesperson of FACT said that the school has Rs 15.5 lakh as dues to the PSU. The FACT Employees Education and Service Society took over the school on lease in 2015, after changing the private management. "A notice in this regard was sent to the school authorities in September 2021, informing them that the school would not be allowed to continue functioning from the new academic year," he said. "The school authorities have not taken any measures to hold a meeting with us so far," he added.

Disputing this, the school management said that the school and its premises had been given for film shooting and that the FACT received a huge sum from it. "At least the authorities should have shown mercy to the children," said headmistress Jayasree. Until now, the school's maintenance and renovation work has been funded by donations from parents and charitable contributions from former students. The FACT official had assured us that these costs would be adjusted in arrears. The total cost for renovation and maintenance was Rs 40 lakh," she added.

The FACT spokesperson said that there are several schools situated in nearby areas and parents need not worry about the future of their children. Once the eviction is completed, a tender will be called to give the school on lease to the new management.

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