The halls of Government Boys' Higher Secondary School, Neyyattinkara, where some of the stalwarts who shaped Kerala's cultural history were raised, are now withering.
The school, with around 1,500 students, is not an 'uneconomical' school - a term the government reserves for schools with poor strength. However, its buildings with the old-style tiled roof have been crying for attention for some years now.
A building to the far left of the compound had to be abandoned a couple of years ago, following its dilapidation.
In the last financial year, the municipality had sanctioned an amount of Rs 14 lakh for the school's development, according to the recently-elected councillor of Alummoodu ward, N Ushakumari. "Though the amount was sanctioned in May, the process of inviting tenders did not start until recently. Now it is on track, and once a contractor is finalised, work will start," she says.
This will help mend the school's open-air auditorium. In addition it will help replace the tiled roofs of the building which lies on the right side of the building. The councillor says that more funds will be allotted from the municipality later.
However, this is not going to meet the need for a firm school building. According to school's headmistress Sharlet Padmam, all the buildings here are old and crumbling. "The school compound has a lot of space and new buildings can be built. However, we will have to wait until the next year, before we approach the MLA for some funds," she says.
The funds for the year have got exhausted, according to MLA R Selvaraj. "Other schools raised their issues regarding infrastructure much earlier. We could allot Rs 2 crore for Government Girls' Higher Secondary School and more than Rs 1 crore for the school at Perumbazhuthoor. On January 25, we will be handing over some more funds to 26 schools to build smart classrooms. Had we known about the problem, we could have dealt with it," he says.
The headmistress says that the school receives Rs 5,000 from SSA every year. However, since the school has tiled roofs, the cost of maintenance is higher than this. "The PTA and SMC are helpful," says Sharlet Padmam.
This is one of the oldest schools in the district. It was started by Maharaja Visakham Tirunal in 1881, and was called English High School for Boys.
According to 'Edukal', a District Panchayat publication on schools brought out in 2007, girl students were admitted to the school in the 1890s. Later, the compound was bifurcated, to start Government High School for Boys, and Government High School for Girls. In 1990, these became higher secondary schools.
The school's impressive list of alumni include Swadeshabhimani K Ramakrishna Pillai and Jnanapradayini Library founder A Parameswaran Nair, a pioneer of library movement.