Ousted for CMRL tunnelling, students packed in sheds
During a visit, DT Next found about 20 students packed in each shed, none of them with fans or even blackboards, much less Smart Board with projector, all of which they had in the McNichols Road school.
The temporary metal sheds inside the nearby school premises where some students have their classes.
CHENNAI: “Inconvenience today for a better tomorrow," reads the boards erected by the Chennai Metro Rail (CMRL) at its construction sites. However, in the case of more than 100 students of a Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) school in Chetpet, it is their future that is affected by the ongoing work, which has displaced them from the school to metal sheds that do not even have blackboards.
Due to the ongoing underground construction, 115 students from Chennai High School at McNichols Road in Chetpet have been moved to the nearby Chennai Primary School in Jaganathapuram, where they have to share the already congested space along with the existing students.
The students of Classes 4 and 5 are worse off, being packed inside sheds.
During a visit, DT Next found about 20 students packed in each shed, none of them with fans or even blackboards, much less Smart Board with projector, all of which they had in the McNichols Road school.
“Our children are now put up in a shed that may not protect them from monsoon,” rued a parent on condition of anonymity.
After the civic body agreed to shift the students for three months to facilitate the Metro Rail construction, the students from Classes 1 to 3 were accommodated in the corresponding classes in the primary school in Jaganathapuram.
It has made the classes congested, but they are still better off than those from Classes 4 and 5, who were placed inside a metal shed.
“The students were moved to the shed constructed for temporary purposes with the permission of Corporation officials and the ward councillor. A space was allocated for these students on the first floor, which was used as a night shelter. However, as the class teacher had some orthopaedic issues, the classes are being conducted in the shed. It is convenient for the students, and we have not received any complaints so far,” claimed E Girija, principal of Chennai Primary School, Jaganathapuram.
‘Classes in metal shed violate fundamental rights’
However, the staff at the school said that the decision to move the students to the shed on September 4 had angered parents, who urged the authorities to shift them instead to the nearby community hall that has better facilities.
Joel Shelton, an activist, pointed out that according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child framed by the Unicef, access to education and a safe environment are major key factors. Holding classes for students aged below 10 inside the metal shed – whether permanent or temporary – was a violation of their fundamental rights, he said.
The metal shed classroom for grade 4 and 5 students.
With the onset of monsoon only weeks away, these structures may not be advisable for the children, Shelton opined.
When asked, a senior official with the civic body’s education department admitted the issues faced by school students due to the ongoing Metro Rail tunnel work near the school. As the students’ strength at the Jaganathapuram school was less, these 115 students from the high school were temporarily shifted to the sheds constructed by the CMRL, the official said.
The department has taken note of the intermittent showers in the city, and has directed the school authorities to move the students to proper classrooms at the Corporation school in Jaganathapuram, said the official, adding: “After three months, the students would be sent back to their original school.”