MADURAI: The School Education Department has initiated steps to establish a government primary school at Harveypatty.
Officials have inspected a defunct aided school and the locality following a report highlighting the long-pending demand of the residents to reopen it as it has remained shut for the past five years.
The inspection team included Chief Educational Officer (CEO) S Thayalan and other education department officials. They assessed the educational needs of the residents and the availability of infrastructure.
The July 8 TNIE report titled ‘Harveypatty residents urge TVK govt to reopen lone aided school shut 5 years ago’ brought attention to the hardships faced by local children due to the closure of the school.
Speaking to TNIE, a senior official of the School Education Department said: “The school was established in 1941 by the Harvey Mills management, with the government providing grant-in-aid only towards teachers’ salaries. In 1992, the school came under the management of Madura Coats, and later under the PMR Charitable Trust in 2005. Since 2021 it has been registered in the name of a private individual, Muthu Velraj.” He further stated that the student enrolment had declined to just 13 by 2020; thereafter, the teachers and students were shifted to other government-aided schools in the area. The School Education Department has not released any grants to the institution since then.
“The school property is privately owned. Under the Tamil Nadu Private Schools (Regulation) Act, 2023, the government can run a school in the existing building only if the owner voluntarily surrenders the property to the government,” the official clarified.
During the inspection, we found that Harveypatty does not have either a government or a government-aided primary school, he added.
Based on the findings, the CEO has decided to recommend to the Department of School Education that a government primary school be established.
“Once the government grants approval, the department will either identify suitable land for constructing a new school building or identify an existing government building to start the school. If the required procedures are completed quickly, the government primary school can be opened within the current academic year,” the official added. Welcoming the development, one of the residents, I Kokila, said:”The government would act on the recommendation at earliest and provide a permanent solution to educational needs of the locality.”
