Tamil Nadu - Salem   

Primary school continues to be neglected

— Photo: P. Goutham

Remains incomplete: The Corporation Primary School on Tiruchi Branch Road at Annathanapatti in Salem.

SALEM: A Corporation primary school on Tiruchi Branch Road at Annathanapatti here serves as a glaring example of official apathy and indifference shown by the Salem Corporation in improving the school infrastructure.

The school, located in Ward 47, functions in a pathetic condition. Children study at a dilapidated building.

The construction of a new building with two classrooms remains incomplete since 2004.

The school is bereft of toilets besides a play ground and playing gadgets. The classrooms lack furniture and learning aids. The roof leaks during rain and there is no electricity connection.

The inadequate facilities in the school have taken their toll on the admissions.

The school, which was once brimming with a lot of activities with 16 teachers and over 600 students, now has just 40 students on its rolls. Only one student study in Class II, while the Class I has seven students. The situation is no different in other classes.

“People are not willing to send their children to a school, which functions in a damaged building with dismal facilities,” teachers here say.

Taking the benefit of darkness, anti-social elements frequent the school during the night.

This has increased the fear among the parents and attendance of the children is also poor, they add.

The pleas made by the teachers and locals to the Councillor of the ward and officials at the Corporation are yet to fetch fruitful solution. “They continue to neglect the school and the problem remains unsolved for years,” parents point out.

The current state of affairs in the school has mainly affected the families living below the poverty line, who depend on the government for education. A majority of the parents are forced to send their children in autorickshaws to the schools located in other areas, while a few have opted for private schools.

The Corporation officials made tall claims a few months ago that over Rs. 1 crore had been allotted for the development of school education. But there has been no visible improvement at the field level. The school infrastructure in the city remains poor.

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