CHENNAI: Students swarmed into the class as the first bell went off with a blaring sound. Silencing their chatter, a teacher entered the room with a pleasant smile and started calling out their names. Almost everyone was present in the class, barring just two. This is a departure from yesteryears when many used to be regular absentees.
In 2021, when A Samuthirapandian began working in the GTR High School at Karikaiyur in Aracode village of Nilgiris, things were quite different. Being a PhD holder who researched on challenges faced by Paniya and Kattunayaka – two of the six tribal communities present in the Nilgiris district – in learning Tamil and English, he noticed that students from 10-15 tribal hamlets were missing from the school. Reason: they had to trek seven to eight km a day. Attendance in the school was as low as 50% or less on most days. Being the headmaster, Samuthirapandian was not ready to compromise on students’ education. So, initially, he arranged a vehicle to ensure the students reach the school without difficulties. But that was not a permanent solution. “With help from friends, I found a company and an NGO that can help us through the issue. They helped us improve the infrastructure and transport facility of the school,” he reminisces.
Samuthirapandian managed to get Rs 35 lakh from the company and he used the amount to repair the leaking roof of the school, paint its walls, build smart classes, compound walls, repair toilets and uplift the hostel facility. “An NGO helped us to buy a van for Rs 15 lakh, which helped us with the transportation of students from the hamlets. At present, 117 children study in Classes 1 to 10 in our school. After the transport facility was introduced, the attendance has improved to 95%,” says Samuthirapandian with a proud smile.
Three posts of the BT teachers were vacant in the school and of this, two were filled through CSR funds while a temporary teacher was appointed for the third one. After the hostels were repaired, 46 out of the 82 children in Classes 6 to 10 joined the facility to focus more on their studies. This includes all of the class 10 students, who will write the public examination this year. “As we have improved the attendance rate, our focus is on improving the results in Class 10 examinations in the coming academic year,” said the headmaster.
Another headmaster who improved the profile of his school through a similar strategy is G Kannadasan of GTR high school at Mavuthampathi in Coimbatore, which was started in 1959. Kannadasan joined the school in 2021 and after noticing the bad shape of the school, he managed to collect Rs 1.37 crore through CSR funds and used it for the development of basic facilities in the school.
“We have improved the basic infrastructure of the school using Rs 37 lakh. Similar to private schools, we have also introduced a dairy system to communicate with the parents regularly which has also shown good results. The district collector has approved works worth Rs 1 crore, which is yet to start. Once all the work is done, the school will perform better than many private schools in the area,” says Kannadasan with confidence.
(Edited by Sneha)