Students and local people laid a siege to the Government High School at Sekkapatti near Batlagundu, appealing to upgrade it to a higher secondary school on Monday.
“We had been requesting the government to upgrade the school for a long time. We remitted Rs.2 lakh as public contribution for upgrading the school in 2013,” they said.
More than 800 students are studying in the high school that has separate hostels for BC and Adi Dravida students. The hostels have accommodated 90 students. Children from Sekkapatti, Akkaraipatti, Meenaangalpatti, Karatupatti, Pannaipatti, Chinnupatti, Uchapatti and Iyyampalayam study in the school.
No action has been taken so far to upgrade the school. Other schools that applied recently have been upgraded immediately. Sekkapatti panchayat president Santhi Subramani and former panchayat president Arunachalam too brought the matter to the knowledge of the government and staged a demonstration to draw its attention in December 2013.
Introduction of higher secondary courses in this school will benefit students in more than 15 villages around Sekkapatti, according to local people.
After intervention of the police, local people withdrew their agitation and decided to submit a petition to the Chief Educational Officer.
