THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With no more students left, K Jayalakshmi, the sole primary teacher at the Her Highness Sethulakshmibai Government LP School (HSLPS), has been left alone to guard its empty classrooms. The school located near Karamana Police Station here has been spiralling to a shutdown for some time now. And with no hope to attract any new admission this academic year, the future of the school is almost sealed.
As she does not anticipate any new admissions for this academic year, Jayalakshmi has sought for a transfer.
It was last October that three of her colleagues were relocated. Now, with headmistress Ambikakumari Amma being shifted to a school at Mudavanmugal, Jayalakshmi has been given charge of the school.
R Sarojini, a cleaning personnel, and C Jayashree, a pre-primary teacher, accompany this school teacher. Jayashree, who has spent over 15 years at the school, maintains that she has not got honorarium for over two years. She is bitter about the daycare institutions which have sprung up everywhere, including the one right in front of the school gate. “We provide pre-primary education for free, but parents these days enrol children in places with astronomical fee structures,” says Jayashree.
The teachers at the school had tried to canvass students to the school from Kaimanam and Kunchalummoodu, but it bore no fruit. Parents prefer the Sankara Subaiyar Government LPS (SSLPS) as it has both Tamil and English medium, according to Jayalakshmi.
A photograph in the school staff room from the late 90s shows that it had about 100 children attending the institution. However, by 2004, which was when Jayalakshmi joined, there were only 50 students. There were four teachers and a headmistress.
While the school, in all its antiquity, could be of interest to the archaeology student, to the staff, it is a symbol of decadence.
The teachers claim that the building was used as a resting place by the Travancore royalty. Historian Malayinkeezh Gopalakrishnan says that a 2007 publication about Thiruvananthapuram’s schools listed by the District Panchayat named ‘Edukal’ says that the school came into being in 1892. The publication states that the school lost its prominence in 1917 when SSLPS for boys came into being. It reports that there were 84 students in 2007. Staff allege that the school was not provided with funds for maintenance since 2005. However, with the efforts of the SSA and Corporation, the school’s walls were painted over recently and floor tiles were changed and utilities were repaired.
