3k damaged school buildings yet to be demolished: TN govt tells Madras HC

MADURAI: The school education department has told the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court that out of 5,583 dilapidated government school buildings in the State, 2,553 were demolished in 2021-22 financial year and steps are being taken to demolish the remaining.

According to the report filed by the joint director of Commissionerate of School Education, Rs 100 crore has been allotted by the government for repair and maintenance of damaged school buildings in 2022-23 financial year. With the help of Nabard funds, the government has also built 40,043 classrooms, 3,146 labs, 10,470 toilets, 5,421 drinking water facilities among others for about 6,941 government schools, the report said.

The submission was made during the hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by R Senthil Murugan in 2018 seeking formation of a committee to take stock of damaged school buildings across the State and to demolish them. Recording the report, a bench of justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad closed the PIL.