While majority of the schools in the district reopened on Tuesday after quarterly holidays that coincided with holidays for Ayudha Puja and Gandhi Jayanthi, the nearly 400 students of Jeyam Nursery and Primary School in Kurinji Nagar in Vandiyur here were left in the lurch as the school remained locked up.
Uncertainty looms over the functioning of the school since eight members of the family that owned the school attempted suicide on September 25 by consuming poison at their house in the same area reportedly due to debt burden, of which six died immediately.
The deceased included S. Jegajothi (70), her sons S. Velmurugan (50) and S. Kurinji Kumaran (47), Velmurugan’s wife V. Devi (42) and their daughter V. Jeyasakthi (23), and Kurinji Kumaran’s daughter K. Jeyadharani. Kurinji Kumaran’s wife K. Thangaselvi and their daughter K. Jeyamonica are recuperating at the hospital.
Residents in the predominantly low-income locality, many of whom have admitted their children at the school, said that it was Velmurugan, Kurinji Kumaran and their wives who were managing all the activities of the school.
C. Ganesan, a resident of Vandiyur working in a tools workshop, whose daughter was studying Class I in the school, said that the teachers of the school, which has classes from kindergarten to Class V, were not seen in the school on Tuesday and none of the officials from the School Education department were also available to help the parents.
“Large number of students and parents came in the morning and returned disappointed with no one to explain them on future course of action,” he said.
Another woman, who has previously worked as a teacher in the school and whose child is now studying in the school, said that she enquired in four schools in nearby localities to check whether they would admit her child in the middle of the academic year.
“At least two of them were willing to admit. However, though we have already paid around ₹ 6,000 as fee in Jeyam Nursery and Primary School, the new schools are also demanding us to pay the fees for full academic year along with other charges for uniforms and books,” she said.
N. Marimuthu, Chief Educational Officer, Madurai, said that the department was in talks with some relatives of the family to check if they could run the school.
“We will get a clear picture in a couple of days,” he said. If the relatives were not willing to take control of the school, he said that the department would ensure that all the students get transferred to nearby schools at the earliest. “We have already identified few schools for this purpose,” he said.
