Coimbatore : For the 59 students of the Anaikatti Tribal Welfare School who are to appear for their 10th standard public exams starting from today, higher education still looks like a forbidden fruit. It is not because they lack interest, but because of the distance it takes for them to reach a nearby school with higher education standard.
With the State Government not upgrading the tribal welfare school in Anaikatti from High School to Higher Secondary standards, many students drop out due to travel woes
Coimbatore : For the 59 students of the Anaikatti Tribal Welfare School who are to appear for their 10th standard public exams starting from today, higher education still looks like a forbidden fruit. It is not because they lack interest, but because of the distance it takes for them to reach a nearby school with higher education standard.
Since the school – located in the bordering town of Anaikatti in Coimbatore – is not upgraded for 25 years, they are now forced to travel 16 kms on exam days to appear for their public exams at the Chinnathadagam Government School. They will be forced to take the journey daily if they decide to study higher education as there is no Government higher education facility in Anaikatti.
The school that was established in 1966 as a Gurukulam school was upgraded to a high school in 1995. Ever since, no further upgradations were done by the authorities, which invariably resulted in the drop outs of atleast half of the students who had studied there.
“This was the first school in the area when it was started. It was the only school with better facilities for students from more than 30 hamlets in Tamil Nadu and hamlets including sholayur, Siruvani Estate, Vellaikulam Vechaipathi, Vattalakki, Kottathurai and Agali from the neighbouring State of Kerala,” said A. Joshua, Social Activist from Anaikatti.
He further added that most of the students who study here are forced to discontinue education as the nearby higher secondary school was in Chinnathadagam, 16 kms from here.
“Travelling becomes a big stress for the students. It consumes a lot of their time and energy. It also leads to discontinuing of education, especially with girl students,” said Punitha Rajan, Tuition Teacher from Anaikatti.
Though travel arrangements have been made by the School Education Department with the help of Vidya Vanam School to take the 59 children including 28 girls and 31 boys to the examination centre, students also felt that distance and travel would take a toll on their performance.
“We can spend the travel time in preparing if we have a centre nearby. Most of the students are around Anaikatti and it is a great difficulty for us to travel 32 kms on exam days,” said K. Sabarishwaran a student of the school living in Dasanur hamlet at Attapadi in Kerala.
R. Heera another student living in Periya Jambukandy in Anaikatti, Tamil Nadu, also agreed that it would be easier for the students if the centre is in Anaikatti.
“Upgrading the school would be the only option for these 400 students who study here. We have been requesting the authorities for many years and seeing so many students drop out is a heart break,” said R.V.C. Natarajan, former Ward Member of the area.
Recently, people of the area also submitted a petition regarding the same with the District Collectorate.
According to Joshua, this is one of the three high schools in Coimbatore under the Tribal Welfare Department including those in Muttathuvayal and Mavuthampathy. Two other schools including Velspuram School in Mettuplayam and one at Thondamuthur in Pollachi that are under the same department were upgraded to Higher Secondary Standard two years ago. “It would be a great development boost for the tribal communities if upgradation can be done at the existing Tribal Welfare High Schools,” Joshua opined.