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Wayanad tragedy: Three kids in viral school video die in landslide
KOCHI: A year ago, the Government Lower Primary School at Mundakkai in Wayanad caught social media attention after a video of one of its teachers giving rides to her students on a little bicycle on the school playground was posted in a teachers' group. Today, the same place has all the media attention but for a very tragic reason. The only difference is that an endless amount of mud and sludge have taken over the playground which till Monday had resonated with laughter and the pitter-patter of happy feet.
Shalini Thankachan, the teacher who had given her students the ride, remains inconsolable. "My darlings are gone," cries Shalini Thankachan, who used to be the class teacher of class IV. Between sobs, she tells TNIE how nine of the students including three who had graduated and joined Class V at Chooralmala school have died in the landslide.
Explaining the video, she says, "It happened that one day during a physical education period, the students saw a bicycle near the playground. I saw a child looking at the bicycle with interest and asked her whether she wanted to ride it. The student was a differently-abled child. So, I helped her hop on it and took her around the playground. Seeing this, other students too wanted to ride the bicycle. But some of them didn't want to ride it by themselves and wanted me to give them a ride." It was fun, she adds. Shalini is now working at Government LP School, Meenangadi, Wayanad.
"I can't watch the video anymore. Three of the students, who featured in the video, are no more. Their entire family has died. Besides them, six students who graduated to Class IV this year too have died in the landslide," Shalini says, and adds, "The school has a very small student strength. So, the students, their parents and the teachers were very close to each other. The school was like a family."
Last month, the school celebrated its 25th anniversary. "And it was a grand affair. Something akin to a festival. The entire village came together to celebrate the anniversary," says Shalini. She added, "The school had started with 72 students. But, after the Puthumala landslide, around 52 families had relocated to other areas. This led to a fall in the student strength."
Recounting her relationship with the villagers of Mundakkai, Shalini says, "I hail from Kottayam. But I had requested a posting in Wayanad after coming to know about the place and the people. I worked at Mundakkai LP school for two years. And those two years made me fall further in love with the place and people. The people here are very simple and the students are very talented."
Unnikrishnan, a teacher with the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School (GVHSS) at Vellarmala, also in the landslide hit district of Wayanad, vouches for Shalini's statement. "What else can explain my 18-year tenure at the same school? The video was made for the people of the village. Just for fun. I started my teaching career at the school and I am still here," he adds.
The teacher and his school too had become social media stars after a music video released as part of the annual day celebrations went viral. The lyrics of the song celebrated the place and the people of Meppadi, Mudakkai and Chooralmala. "But everything is now turned into mere memories for me," says this Alappuzha native who lost nine of his students.