The secretary of the Madurai Labour Welfare Association (MLWA) Higher Secondary School has undertaken at the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai to revive the 67-year-old school in the city, which is on the verge of closure.
He gave the undertaking in his reply to a public interest litigation, filed by advocate N. Satheesh Kumar, seeking a direction to the State government to take over the administration of MLWA School.
The management of the school had stopped admitting new students, forced the students to obtain transfer certificates, in order to close down the school and sell its properties to a private party for, he claimed. An application seeking permission to close down the school is pending before the Joint Direction of School Education. The school building is in a bad state, he claimed.
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R. Shanmuganathan, the secretary of the school, in an affidavit denied the petitioner’s claims by stating that the management is not to be blamed for the decline in the strength of the students.
A majority of the students were wards of the employees of Madura Coats Limited. Following the closure of the Madura Coats in 2009, the employees and their families migrated resulting in the decline of the student strength, he contended. But he undertook to withdraw the application for closure of the school and assured the court that the school would be run in a safer environment.
“We shall launch a campaign to admit more students in the school. We shall take every step to retain the existing students by proper counselling to the parents and the students,” Mr. Shanmuganathan told the Court.
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Recording the statements of Mr. Shanmuganathan, a division bench comprising Justices Chitra Venkataraman and S. Vimala disposed the petition.