The delay in upgrading the Panchayat Union Middle School at Kottadai village in Hasanur panchayat in Talavadi Union as high school and lack of public transportation to reach the nearest school at Hasanur is contributing to the prevalence of child marriages and dropouts in the hill area.
The school was started as a primary school in 1961 and was upgraded as middle school in 1996. Currently, 70 students are studying from classes 1 to 8. To study in class 9, students have to travel 20 km through a forest area and reach Hasanur and study at the Government Tribal Residential Higher Secondary School. A Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus departs from the village at 7 a.m. and reaches school at 8 a.m. while after school hours, students board the bus at 4.45 p.m. and reach the village at 6 p.m.
R. Arulsamy, councillor, Ward 6 of the panchayat, said over 50 students from Kottadai, Kuliyada, Osatti, Pudukadu, Devarnatham, Keelmavallam, Meelmavallam and a few other habitations, depend on the bus to reach the school everyday. “Students have to be ready by 6.45 a.m. as the next available bus is after 10 a.m.,” he said and added that students do not eat in the morning. “Breakfast is provided in schools only to students under class 5,” he said.
Most of the people in these habitations belong to Lingayat and Badaga communities coming under Backward Class and many parents migrate to other places for work.
“Many children are being taken care of by their grandparents while many move with their parents to work and return only during festivals,” said a resident at Kottadai. “If higher classes are available, they would study here,” the resident added. Residents said during heavy rains and traffic jams on Dhimbam ghat road, the bus had reached the village even at 10 p.m. on a few occasions.
The hostel at the residential school at Hasanur is available only for tribal students and in the absence of a hostel for students of backward class, they are forced to travel or discontinue their studies, said S.C. Natraj, director of Service Unit for Development Activities in Rural, a Sathyamangalam-based NGO. He said hindrance in transport, lack of hostel facility and delay in upgrading the school is contributing to child marriage, child labour and dropouts in the hill area and wanted the school to be upgraded, which is the only solution.
While poor strength is cited as a reason for delay in upgrading, S. Mohan Kumar, State committee member, Communist Party of India, said the school is located in a remote place in the forest area and it should be exempted from the rules. “The welfare of students is more important than citing rules,” he said.
