MALAPPURAM: Grief has a way of isolating people even in the thickest of crowds. On the ground of Ambalaparambu Government High School, where hundreds had gathered to pay their last respects, Pang native Asnath stood surrounded by people, yet utterly alone. In a single trip to Valparai, she had lost not just her colleagues, but the small, close-knit family that Kuruva GHLPS had always been.
Along with Asnath, the school itself seemed to mourn. Its classrooms, once filled with laughter and chatter, now stand still, weighed down by the loss of five teachers and a beloved cook. The tragedy has left Asnath as the lone teacher, facing an emptiness that words can scarcely hold.
She had chosen not to join the trip, staying back to prepare for her family’s Hajj pilgrimage. That decision now separates her from those she once worked with every day. “We used to go on staff trips every year. Since it is a small school, all of us were like one big family. Sajitha was our cook, but we treated her like a teacher. Even the students called her Sajitha teacher,” Asnath said, her voice breaking.
“Even though it was vacation time, Ajitha teacher had called all of us to the school last Monday, just to meet. That was the last time I saw them. Now I am all alone here.”
The lower primary school had around 120 students from Classes 1 to 4, six teachers and three non-teaching staff. Under headmistress Ajitha, the institution had been undergoing a quiet transformation. In a modest hamlet in Malappuram, it had begun to draw attention for its efforts to improve.
The building itself stood as a symbol of that determination. Recently renovated, it had new roofing sheets laid using funds raised through a community-driven payasam challenge, led by teachers and students together.
“Though it is a government school, the teachers always went beyond the call of duty,” said Abdurahiman, a Pang native and former ward member. “They organised admission campaigns and outreach programmes to enrol more students. They had also planned a farewell for the fourth graders. Now, everything has come to a halt.”
Meanwhile, General Education Minister V Sivankutty, after paying homage to the deceased, said psychological counselling would be arranged for all students of Kuruva LPS. He also said new teachers would be appointed before the start of the next academic year.