Dearth of teachers plagues five of corporation’s century-old schools

It was during early 1910 that the British carved out the education department of Greater Chennai Corporation. The journey that began with 40 schools has grown to 281 across the city. Of these, five schools have been operating for over a hundred years.

With the introduction of English medium classes, the schools have witnessed an increase in admissions, but all the five schools face a common problem– lack ofadequate teachers.

A Munusamy, the headmaster of Chennai Primary School in Erukkenchery, which was started in 1913, said that he feels a little embarrassed and helpless when more students approach him for seats. “We have kindergarten classes too and every day, at least 10 parents come seeking admission. But we have limited space and are short-staffed so we have to decline,” he said.

Munusamy, however, said that the civic administration has taken measures to appoint additional teachers.

When the schools were started 105 years ago, the building was all but a thatched shed. Now, the school has a permanent building albeit squeezed between residential buildings. Like other schools run by the civic body, students’ admission had been falling for several years and the civic body planned to close the schools. “After 2012, the strength began to grow and now there are 700 students in our school,” Munusamy said.

Adjacent to the primary school, there is a Chennai High School that has been registering 100 per cent pass percentage for several years. At present, there are only 10 permanent and 8 contract teachers, which is much less than than the normal student-teacherratio of 30:1.

On Sanjeevarayan Koil Street in Old Washermenpet, a Chennai Middle School is functioning in a more than 50-year-old building. The school, however, is 105 years old, as per available records. In 1913, it too was started off in a thatched shed as a primary school and later upgraded into middle school in 1968.

As of now, the school has 357 students and 11 teachers. “Even though we have Tamil medium classes, most of the students prefer to join English medium classes. We have a smart class too,” headmistress D Kala Shantha Kumari said.

The school in Sanjeevarayan Koil Street was the first school to have kindergarten classes when the civic body started KG classes in 1997. The school was apparently built on temple land, which was given for free.

Among the five century-old schools run by the civic body, the oldest is Chennai Primary School on Bazaar Road in Saidapet. It also stands out from the four others as it is the only school to function in its original building built by the erstwhile colonial rulers.

“Our school was started in 1910 and unlike other schools, ours was started in a concrete building. The school was provided with electricity connection and has been paying electricity bill from 1910,” N Rani, headmistress of the school said.

Presently, there are 114 students in the school and the administration is trying to increase the admission figures. But, in 2014, the school had only 32 students. “During that time, we were almost about to shut down the school. We, however, managed to increase the strength and have fixed a target of 150 students in the next academic year,” she added.

Rani, while explaining the reason for the decline in the admissions, said that relocation of slum dwellers has had a negative impact on the admissions, but the introduction of English medium helped.

Within the same premises, the Chennai Corporation started an Urdu school in 1949 and the school was merged with the primary school a few years ago.

Meanwhile, teachers at the Chennai High School in Vanniyateynampet in Teynampet had a tough task while finding the documents of the British era as most of the documents were lost in 1974 floods. An invitation printed to celebrate 75th Foundation day is the only evidence suggesting the school was functioning from 1919.

Vanniyateynampet schools also started in thatched shed, however facing a problem of encroachment. “We could not expand the school as our land was encroached upon. We are taking the necessary steps to remove the encroachments,” said a teacher from the school.

In 1917, Chennai Primary School in Lloyds Road was started as a shift school that conducted morning and afternoon classes as the school could not accommodate a large number of students. Presently, the school has only around 50 students from Classes 1 to 5, and has 10 students in kindergarten. The primary school, however, has only two teachers. An Urdu school functioning in the premise has around 60 students and a lone teacher.

Despite being over a hundred years, old, none of the five schools enjoy any special treatment from the Chennai Corporation.

When contacted, a Chennai Corporation official said that they are implementing projects equally across all the schools. “We will use the tradition as the schools’ USP. As far as the appointment of teachers is concerned, we have taken steps to fill vacant posts,” the official said.