Chennai
According to sources, there are more than 250 students, hailing from villages like Chettimedu, Palayanoor, Pathur and Pulikurakoil, studying in Classes 1 to 8 in the school. In 2014, the government had constructed four new classrooms in the campus at a cost of about Rs 30 lakh. The students were then using the new building but in a few years’ time, the building developed cracks in many places and it began to leak during the rainy season, sources said.
With the condition of the building becoming worse, villagers in January this year protested the dangerous conditions to which their children were being subjected to, by locking the gates of the school. They demanded that the new building be demolished as it was feared to collapse anytime.
Officials who subsequently visited the spot found that the building structure was weak and promised to demolish it. Since then, the classes were shifted to the old building which, however, was constructed many years ago.
K Jebaraj, a social activist from Padalam said, “The students still are using the dilapidated building for having their lunch and for holding group studies during examination time. As the building is in a weak condition, we don’t know when it will collapse.”
Villagers claimed that they had requested officials many times to demolish the building and reconstruct, but no action has been taken so far.
When asked about the issue, Kancheepuram Chief Educational Officer J Angelo Irudhayasamy said, “We have asked a report from the principal, and before the end of December, the building will be demolished.”
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