Moopar Colony PU school gets a bus for its students

The idea of getting a vehicle for students was the brainchild of Prabhudas Malar Vendan, who took over as the school head three years ago.

“The school was about to be closed due to poor strength. But it escaped the lock and key due to Malar Vendan’s sustained efforts and today it has 133 on rolls,” says school PTA (Parents Teachers Association) president Poorana Dayalan.

But problems did not end there. The headmaster is the only teacher available as two teacher posts are vacant. Malar Vendan resolved this issue also by requesting the PTA to hire teachers. “The PTA heeded my request and now there are four women teachers, who are paid a monthly salary of Rs 5000 each” Malar Vendan added.

Asked for the source of funds, he said a relative of Dayalan working in the Gulf has been donating Rs 20,000 a month with which we manage the salaries of four teachers.

Another issue that we faced was that students from the kindergarten to class 5 were all accommodated in a single building with two rooms. “Ambur MLA AC Vilvanathan who visited the institution recently promised to do the needful. He immediately contacted officials and directed the officials to help the institution,” Dayalan told this reporter.

A majority of the students come from surrounding villages like Eechampattu, Moopar Colony, Chinnapallikuppam and the nearby Sri Lankan refugee camp. They found the commute difficult. While the villages chipped in with Rs 2 lakh, the rest was contributed by the PTA and donors for purchase of a vehicle. With all their help, finally a minibus has been purchased and pressed into service for students on Tuesday. Mohan, a driver of a private company at Vaniyambadi, as his part ferries students for a monthly salary of Rs 150.

Angered by the caning and abusing of students using their caste names at the panchayat union middle school at Periadhamalseruvu in Pernambut union over a trivial issue of missing plastic mug, parents besieged the institution and staged a protest on Wednesday. The school with 87 students has 5 teachers and a headmistress Mahalakshmi. As the school was a polling booth for Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, one of the three plastic mugs in the toilet went missing after the election on August 5. Sources said that polling officials had inadvertently placed the mugs elsewhere resulting in the melee. The headmistress, who got upset over the missing mug, allegedly abused students by their caste names and severely caned Hari, a class 5 student. She also scolded the teachers. As the incident went viral on social media, parents besieged the institution. Block Education Officer (BEO) Govindarajan conducted an inquiry into the issue on Wednesday. He said the parents demand that Mahalakshmi be transferred to some other school and it has been conveyed to Vellore CEO S Mars.Teachers also demanded a transfer refusing to work under Mahalakshmi.