Basic education has been denied to 130 tribal children at Perungadu and nearby villages in Kookal panchayat on upper Kodaikanal hill owing to inordinate delay in sanctioning buildings for primary school and appointment of teachers. With no place to continue their education, 44 students of a school run by an NGO at this village have become school dropouts for the past two years.
Tribal people from Perugadu, Alathurai, Pallangi Kombai and Ganesapuram in Kookal panchayat thronged the Collectorate this morning demanding quick action to construct buildings and appoint teachers to run the school.
In a petition submitted to Collector T.G. Vinay, villagers said proposals had been sent to the government for sanctioning two primary schools at Natham and Perungadu. The government had planned to establish a modern school at Perungadu with the central government assistance and allotted 20 cents of land for this purpose. But it granted a school for Natham and refused to grant permission for a school to Perungadu, said S. Annadurai, who ran the school.
When contacted, Education Department officials stated that sanction was denied as the village was not shown in the Google map. They also stated that teachers too would not prefer to go to such a remote village, he added. Earlier, the school was functioning in an SSA building. Later, they shifted to another building owned by an NGO as the government decided to demolish the old structure. Two years ago, the NGO had decided to close the school owing to completion of the project period.
“Now, 44 students are school dropouts. These villages have more than 130 children. They too will face a similar fate in the future. The children had to trek at least seven kilometres to reach nearest private school at Kamarajapuram to continue their studies,” P. Sampath Kumar of Perungadu.
Chances of going to that school were very remote owing to frequent movement of wild elephants on their way. Parents were afraid of sending the children to that school, A. Kalai Arasi of Perungadu. They appealed to the government to run the school.
“We are willing to offer our building to the government to run the school. The government should start the primary school,” said Mr. Annadurai.
