Tribal students trudge downhill for classes as high school awaits upgrade

Tribal students in Tirupattur, TN, trek 20 kms daily to attend higher classes due to a decade-long wait for school upgradation. Locals have paid ₹2 lakh as 'caution deposit' to the Dept. of School Education. Private mini-bus is the only transport option, with no govt. bus due to the steepness of the hillock. Education officials say facelift to infrastructure & potential for enrolment are criteria for upgradation.

TIRUPATTUR

A decade-long wait to upgrade the Government High School in Nayakaneri, a tribal village atop the Nayakaneri hillock, to the higher secondary level is forcing more than 100 tribal students, including 40 girls, to trek to the Government Higher Secondary School in Devalapuram village near Ambur town, Tirupattur, which is over 20 kms away from the hillock, for higher classes every day.

Residents and parents, who are mostly tribal farmers and petty traders, have been petitioning the district education officials and elected representatives, including A. C. Vilwanathan, MLA (Ambur), since they had back in 2014 mobilised a sum of ₹2 lakh as ‘caution deposit’ and paid to the Department of School Education for the upgradation of the high school into the higher secondary level.

The upgrade would let the students take up classes at the school in Nayakaneri itself and avoid the arduous walk downhill to reach Devalapuram. Students from at least 10 tribal hamlets, including Naduvur, Melulur, Pudueriyur, Kollaimedu, Pudur, Eriparai and Sholakollamedu on the hillock, traverse nearly 25 kms every day to reach the higher secondary school in Devalapuram.

“Most of the teachers stay at the hillock to ensure classes start on time. Due to the delay in upgradation, the dropout rate has also gone up as parents prefer to enrol their wards in schools at the foothills that classes have up to Grade XII,” said K. Arunpandi, headmaster in-charge.

Every day, only a private mini-bus ply two trips respectively at 6.30 a.m. and 8 p.m. between Nayakaneri and Ambur town. No government bus has been operational due to the steepness of the hillock. Higher class students from other hamlets have to congregate at Nayakaneri to board the mini-bus which is usually packed. Many times, students form small groups and trudge down the hill to reach the government school at Devalapuram village, 24 kms from Nayakaneri village.

Opened in September 1963, the Government High School in Nayakaneri village panchayat, which comprises Nayakaneri, Kamanur Thattu and Panakatteri hamlets with around 3,500 persons in its nine wards, has 280 students, including 146 girls.