Lack of safety, no students: Kundrathur primary school closed since 2016

“The primary school has been closed for four years now for want of students. Earlier, there were many pupils who would come from near and afar to attend this school. But lack of safety due to the isolated location of the school, prompted parents to stop sending their wards here, even though it is close to their residences. Moreover, the government did not take any effort to develop the school, which is the reason for lack of admissions,” said Pughazh V, a resident of Kundrathur.

Local residents pointed out that the school which has been in existence for over 30 years, had very good attendance till a few years ago. Due to lack of maintenance and safety issues, parents gradually stopped sending their children. The school which had about 10 students a few years ago, had to be locked up in 2016 after students graduated from Class 5. There were no new admissions.

Another resident, Narayanan L from Kundrathur, claimed that the school building was built under ‘Education for All’ scheme, and therefore it should only be used for the same purpose. “If not, then another venue should be chosen and a new building should be built there under the same scheme to compensate for this,” said Narayanan.

A senior official from the School Education Department said that the government primary school situated in Kundrathur was among the 40 institutions in the State to be converted into libraries due to poor admissions. The official pointed that even the school teachers were not willing to work in the school due to lack of facilities such as no bus stand and hotels. He added that the students, who earlier, went to the school, have been transferred to other institutions.

When contacted, a senior official of Kundrathur Municipality said, “The school slowly stopped receiving students and had to be closed. It is up to the government to decide what should be done with that building.”