You cannot stop children from playing, the reason behind allocation of a separate period for physical activity in schools. For private institutions lacking in space for this, the Corporation offered its playgrounds for usage at a nominal charge.
With the rates for usage of Corporation playgrounds now likely to be increased double- and triple-fold for private schools, will these institutions stop using them?
Ganapathy Iyer Girls Higher Secondary School, run by Gopalapuram Educational Society, has some space for children to play, yet it uses the nearby Gopalapuram Corporation playground for all athletic activities. Until now, they have not being paying anything to the Corporation.
But if forced to bear the new costs, the school might just opt out of using the ground. “We have been using the field for conducting sports meets and practice. Most of our students come from poor families and the school is run by a trust and we only charge a nominal tuition fee set by the Government. We can bear the cost escalation.
Until now, the Corporation has not indicated to us about the new charges for using the ground. When approached, we will write a letter to the Mayor informing him of our inability to pay,” says the school management.
The Gopalapuram Educational Society also runs the Gopalapuram Boys Higher Secondary School, which again caters to the children of the poor. They also use the Corporation playground and will not be able to manage the increase in usage rates.
Other schools such as DAV Boys and Girls School also use the playground for various sports and annual meets.
When enforced, the new rate will be applicable to clubs and private coaches also using the playgrounds.
The Madras Youth Basketball Club has been using the Venkatnarayana Corporation playground for all its tournaments and coaching classes. “After the Tamil Nadu Basketball Association surrendered its ground, we have been using the Corporation playground here. There were proposals to convert it into parking lot, but we filed a case and got it squashed,” says Kathiresan K., the club’s secretary.
Though they don’t pay for conducting tournaments, the Club has to pay for any coaching class they conduct. “If you compare it with any other grounds, the increased rates will still be nominal. The scheduled at Nehru Stadium is always packed and one can never get the ground and the JJ Indoor Basket Ball court is too expensive for us. Even if the Corporation increases the rates, we plan to stick on,” he adds.
Schools such as Little Oxford, which has no playground on its campus, also use the facility during school hours. Bigger schools such as PSBB, Nungambakkam also depends on a Corporation-owned playground.
