COIMBATORE: Around 20 SC and ST school students have been left in the lurch after the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare (ADW) Department closed its boys' hostel at Noyal Nagar near Ondipudur in the city due to inadequate number of students.
With schools reopening on Monday, district officers of the ADW department ordered the warden to close the hostel on the same day, citing fewer students.
Without a place to stay, some moved to their friends' homes, and others returned to their own homes.
M Sundar (name changed), a Class 12 SC student at Government Higher Secondary School in Ondipudur, told TNIE that he joined this hostel after his parents passed away when he was in Class 10, and he completed Class 11 while staying at the hostel.
"After the summer holiday, I came to school from my native place, Mysuru, on Tuesday morning. I went to the hostel in the evening, but it was closed. I finally came to know that the hostel won't be open this year," he said.
"Not knowing what to do next, I waited at Kamatchipuram bus stand until 9 PM. Then my schoolmate called me and took me to his home. I stayed at his home for two nights," he expressed his dismay.
He plans to join a hostel run by an NGO in Ukkadam in the city.
An ST parent, S Revathi from Dharmapuri district, told TNIE that the family planned to enrol their two children in classes 7 and 11 at the Ondipudur School because they planned to shift from Tiruppur to join a garment company.
"I had already registered my children for the boys' hostel last month. After receiving their transfer certificates from the government school at the native place, we arrived on Wednesday only to find the hostel closed. My calls to the warden went unanswered. We came to know that the hostel will not function. Since the hostel was closed, I haven't enrolled my children at the Ondipudur School. We have not decided where to admit them now."
Sources say out of the four hostels at Noyal Nagar and Thiruvalluvar Nagar, three hostels were allocated for girls. Of the latter three, a school hostel has admitted around 25 students and two college hostels have around 60. The boys hostel has a sanctioned capacity of 60 but only around 20 students were available to joy. The ADW Department has closed this boys' hostel and decided to allocate it for girls, forcing the 20 boys to look for other options.
There are hostels at Kovilpalayam and Sokkampalayam near Annur, and Lakshminaickenpalayam near Selekkaraichal, but these are more than 25 kilometres away. The hostel at Noyal Nagar is only 1.5 km from the Ondipudur school," sources added.
S Chandrasekar, a functionary of Palli Kalvi Pathukappu Iyakkam, told TNIE that officers did not inform students about the closure of the hostel in advance, and they informed them only after the school reopening.
He noted that in such a situation students from financially weak families may drop out of school, and this is against child rights.
When contacted, the Coimbatore district officer of the ADW Department, Manimegalai S, told TNIE the hostel at Noyal Nagar has been closed for boys due to inadequate numbers and it will be allocated for girl students as per the secretary's direction,
G Laxmi Priya, secretary of the ADW department, told TNIE she did not give any instructions about it to the district officer, but assured to look into this matter.