Students petition collector to upgrade local high school

COIMBATORE: Every child in Anaikatti who wishes to complete his/her schooling, must travel 20km to Chinna Thadagam because the local government school, run by the tribal welfare department, only offers education up to Class 10. Despite many petitions to ministers, members of the legislative assembly and Parliament the school has not received an upgrade for the past 21 years.
A group of girls, including tribals, from Anaikatti, petitioned the collector on Monday to upgrade the local tribal high school to a higher secondary school. "Our tribal school in Anaikatti, which is located on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, has around 500 students from 25 small villages in the area," said S Selvi, a student who just completed Class 10, scoring 408 out of 500 marks this year. "To pursue our education, I have to travel 20km each way to the government school in Thadagam," she said.
Since the school is on the border, many children from Attapady mountains too come there, said a social worker, Joshua J P N. On the Kerala side, children come from Mukkaali, Kottathurai and Agali. "The students from Kerala have to travel at least 30km to attend the school," he added.
Apart from the travel, the Thadam school does not offer them the commerce option, which is easier on the pocket. "The government school only gives us science group, which is more difficult and expensive to pursue in college because of the high fees," said Saraswathi who is being raised by her mother Kamalam. "They are forcing us to take biology group, for which we can't get tuitions in Anaikatti," she said.
Joshua, who works with a group called Inaindha Karangal, said many tribal welfare department run schools in the district don't have Classes 11 and 12. "Maavothampathy, Poondi near Vellingiri and Paasoor near Annur are a few examples. Anaikatti tribal school was upgraded to a high school in July 1995 and has not been upgraded after that," he said.
The students alleged that the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Chinna Thadagam was collecting fees under various pretexts. "They collect 200 as computer fee, 5 as flag fees, 50 as PTA fee and another 850 towards the salaries of two teachers appointed by the PTA per year," said Joshua. "This is against the rules of government schools," he said.