Class 5 girls made to sweep corridor in school at Madanur panchayat

TIRUPATTUR: Chief Minister MK Stalin’s talk during his recent visit to Vellore at a school function that education and medicine were the two eyes of the government, does not seem to have reached the ears of the teachers of a panchayat union middle school in Tirupattur district.

The school at Thirumalai Kuppam in Madanur panchayat union has around 80 students and 2 teachers. Those in the vicinity were shocked when they found Class 5 girls sweeping the verandah of the classrooms in the school.

A reporter, who came that way, saw two girls sweeping the premises, but both dropped the brooms and ran into the class the moment they realised that their activity was watched.

A passersby commented whether the teachers would make their children do the same work if they were students in this school. However, the teachers failed to see anything wrong in the students sweeping the floors.

“They are just sweeping up the rubbish which they themselves dropped on the verandah. So, what is wrong if they themselves clean it away,” was the casual reply the reporter got from a teacher.

When this reporter contacted new Collector D Baskara Pandian, he said he would look into the issue. However, he added that girls should not be used for any work other than studies.

“Girls should concentrate only on education which should lead to their emancipation and empowerment. There is no place for physical work for them in their schedule,” he added.