The School Education Department will hand over schools in added areas to the Greater Chennai Corporation in six months, said Mayor R. Priya.
Responding to demands from councillors at the Chennai Corporation Council meeting on Tuesday, Ms. Priya said the Corporation would implement projects to improve infrastructure in the schools. Once the schools in added areas, such as Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Sholinganallur are handed over to the Chennai Corporation, the total number of schools managed by the civic body is expected to increase from 281 to 420. More than 1.1 lakh students are on the rolls of the 281 corporation schools in Chennai.
Councillors in various wards in the added areas have been demanding that the schools in such areas be handed over to the Chennai Corporation to facilitate better infrastructure development. Various projects for development of school infrastructure have been proposed with funding from multilateral funding agencies.
The Chennai Corporation Council passed a resolution to develop safe toilets for girls in Corporation schools, under the Nirbhaya Fund. The Women’s Safety Division of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has recommended the proposal, ‘Women’s safety in public places in Chennai.’
Projects for empowerment, safety and security of women were approved at a total cost of ₹425 crore over a period of three years starting 2018-2019. The period has been extended to September 2022. The key initiatives in the safe city proposal under the Nirbhaya Fund include, safe-zone clusters in hot crime zones, surveillance camera in places with large gathering, security enablers in public transport, e toilets and sanitation, capacity building and awareness programme, emergency helpline and App services, counselling, cyber cell and legal assistance fund, GIS-based crime mapping, remote monitoring of street lighting and mobile women police patrol.
The project, ‘Safe toilets for GCC schools with girls’ is one of the Nirbhaya Projects proposed at an estimated cost of ₹18.87 crore and was approved by the State-level apex committee on January 13, 2022. The scope of the work covers 132 middle schools, high and higher secondary schools with 20,000 girl students in Chennai. As many as 792 toilet seats in 225 toilet blocks will be developed by the Chennai Corporation. For instance, Chennai Girls Higher Secondary School in Saidapet and Chennai Primary School on Jones Road have a combined strength of 3,500 students. As per norms, one toilet seat is required for every 25 students. The schools should have 140 toilet seats and 86 new toilet seats will be constructed on the campus. As many as 54 existing toilet seats are being reconstructed under CITIIS project, with support from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the European Union (EU).
The council also passed a resolution for hiring a team of 126 conservancy workers to clean Chennai Corporation school toilets and the premises.
