KRISHNAGIRI: Drip, drip, drip. That’s the sound that accompanied the teacher’s voice in a classroom in a hilly village in Krishnagiri. The roof was leaky and the floor damaged. The 20 students at the Panchayat Union Primary School struggled to focus on their lesson. Just as in every other rainy season, water accumulated in the two classrooms.
Then, N Poonkodi, headmistress (HM) of the school in Karukakollai village of Denkanikottai Taluk, decided it was enough. She spent Rs 1 lakh allocated by the government to repair the roof, and put in Rs 30,000 from her pocket to paint the walls of the classrooms.
The school in Karukakollai, about 105 km from the district headquarters, was constructed in 2005-2006, and until a few months ago, used to be in a pathetic condition whenever it rained. “I requested the then Chief Education Officer R Murugan to allot funds to repair the roof, and he allotted Rs 1 lakh. The funds were received following the order of the Krishnagiri Chief Judicial Magistrate in June to utilise the fines levied on tipper lorries for various violations,” headmistress Poonkodi said.
She travels about 55 km to the school every day from Hosur. As the only teacher in the school, she handles all 20 students. Besides repairing the roof, Poonkodi spent Rs 37,000 to repair the floor of the two classrooms, one of which has been tiled. At a cost of Rs 30,000, she got the walls painted with the English and Tamil alphabet, multiplication tables, and portraits of prominent leaders.