Away from home and much far from comfort, safety and care

Students in government hostels in Madurai district face unclean living conditions, poor quality food, and lack of infrastructure.

“Staying away from home and surviving in an unclean building by eating tasteless food, how can someone expect us to learn and score good marks in examinations,” says a student residing in the Adi Dravidar Welfare Hostel in Othakadai.  

He is not alone. Many students staying in government hostels in ADW hostels and Backward Classes students’ hostels in Madurai district resonate the same feelings. 

There are 57 ADW hostels -11 for college students and 46 for school students, with a recorded strength of about 3,500. Most of the hostels which The Hindu visited were unclean and stinking of food leftovers and overflowing sewage water.  

A Plus One student residing at the hostel in Othakadai says since their hostel does not have a proper compound wall, anti-socal elementss trespass into the premises all the time for smoking ganja or drinking.  Sometimes even the hostellers join them.

These hostellers come from villages in Madurai district or from other districts.  “Their parents, fearing bad influence on their children in their native places, have enrolled them in far-away places to keep them away from the bad company but to no avail,” the boy says. 

When asked about it, a warden says, “This does not happen always. But due to the location of the hostel, poor security, damaged compound wall, proximity to the school, etc., outsiders do intrude into the hostel to use it for anti-social activities,” he says.  

“We have been requesting reconstruction of walls and installation of CCTVs on the premises for more than 10 years, but no one seems to care,” says the warden.