Not grievances, but love letters fill school complaint boxes

CHENNAI: When they finalised Manavar Manasu (students’ mind) as the name for the complaint box that was to be kept at every school for students to raise their grievances, the School Education Department officials would not have thought that the youngsters would take the name literally.

In one instance, the department staff who were going through letters from the complaint box at a government school found a ‘heartfelt’ grievance, a love confession. “I have expressed my feelings to her multiple times, but all efforts are pointless. Please convey my message to her,” read the letter.

Though it was written in a student’s name, the school staff soon tracked down the actual writer after identifying him based on handwriting. What made the staff himself amused was the response he received from the boy. When asked about dropping such a letter in the box, he reportedly responded, “The box is named Manavar Manasu. This is what I had in my mind.” The boy added that he sent it in another student’s name, as he was scared of being caught by the teachers.

At another government school, the authorities had to remove the complaint box after finding many letters addressed to teachers. “Many letters were addressed to female teachers of the school, which was embarrassing for the faculty members. We have removed the box currently, but will be returning it soon,” said a female teacher.

Commenting on such instances, an Education Department official said it was clear that the students do that as a joke. “We will ask principals to explain the real purpose of the complaint box,” said the official.

The State government decided to place complaint boxes outside the principal’s room at every school to enable the students to raise their complaints about infrastructure, safety and harassment of any sort. According to the department staff, there were letters complaining about the lack of toilets, drinking water and basic facilities at schools, and also those urging teachers to speak about topics that are of students’ interest.

Across the State, complaint boxes have been placed at 31,214 government elementary schools and 6,177 secondary schools. Though the government sanctioned Rs 1,000 for every school for the initiative, many schools are yet to place them, sources said.