TIRUCHY: To address long-standing challenges faced by the tribal students to access schools in the Pachamalai Hills of Tiruchy district, the Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned the procurement of five new mini-vans under a statewide initiative by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department.
The scheme follows the success of a pilot project in the Kalvarayan Hills and aims to provide safe and reliable school transportation in remote tribal regions. According to a Government Order (GO) issued last month, each Trax Cruiser mini-van will cost Rs 15.74 lakh, and the total allocation for Tiruchy district is Rs 78.71 lakh. The scheme is fully funded by the state government, covering vehicle maintenance and fuel, along with salaries of drivers.
In Tiruchy, the vans will be assigned to tribal residential schools to pick up and drop off students, especially those from interior villages, where daily commuting remains a major barrier to education, particularly for middle and high school students, officials said. However, primary school children in Pachamalai Hills largely don't face this issue, as most of the elementary schools are located within a few minutes walk from students' homes.
Sources said 29 schools are operated by the department in Tiruchy district, with the majority situated in three key panchayats of the Pachamalai region. These include two higher secondary schools at Chinna Illupur and Top Sengattupatti, one high school at Sembuluchampatti, and two middle schools in Nagore and Thenpuranadu. The remaining institutions are elementary schools, with 22 located in the hills and two more in the foothills.
"The real difficulty starts from Class 6 onwards, as students must wait and travel through irregular buses to reach their schools. Sometimes, parents drop them or they even have to walk 4-5 km from distant villages to reach their schools," an official said. Based on student distribution across villages, route planning is currently under way and will be implemented in a few months. "We will draw up a route map and fix pick-up and drop-off locations. This will not only reduce commute time, but also give students more time to focus on their studies," officials explained.
"More than 50 students from around 15 villages in Vanadu panchayat travel to our school daily. With these vans, commuting becomes safer, and we can even conduct focused coaching for Classes 6 to 8 in the evenings," said P Arjuselvam, Headmaster of Chinna Illupur Higher Secondary School.
Officials added that the vans will also support remedial classes in Maths and English, to be held on Monday and Friday evenings and morning sessions. "This is not just about transport, it's a solution to prevent migration, improve learning outcomes, and assure the safety of the children," said Rangaraj, District Tribal Welfare Planning Officer.