Close to 100 parents gathered outside a city school on Wednesday morning, protesting against an unsafe block on the premises.
They were parents of students in classes IX, X and XII, of Vidyodaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School, T. Nagar.
“The block in question, which houses these classes, had developed cracks in many walls around May this year. But the management has merely plastered the walls and deemed it fit for occupation again,” said Sujatha Kesh, one of the parents.
Parents said they had gathered there, because the classes were going to be shifted from the temporary classrooms, back into the block. They demanded that the block be demolished and rebuilt with the building fund collected from parents. They also wanted the principal of the school, Annie Mohan who resigned this morning, to be re-instated.
Samuel Solomon, secretary, parent-teacher association (PTA), said that the in 2009, Rs. 1.35 crore was set aside by the school’s management to demolish and reconstruct that particular block, but the money was instead spent on repair work.
“This almost 30-year old building poses a danger not just to the students but also the staff, he said.
N. Vimalathithan, whose two daughters study in the school said: “The level of floor in the block was raised by one foot earlier this year, because rain water was percolating into the classrooms. Then, in May, a week after the summer vacation began, cracks started to develop in the ground floor classrooms. As parents, we want a conclusive stability report of the structure,” he said.
Parents dispersed after N. Kirubakaran, district educational officer (DEO) assured them that a meeting would be convened on Thursday morning with the management The DEO, who held a meeting with the president and secretary of the school’s PTA, mediated with the management.
