Refuse to send children; lay siege to school
Parents at Surulipatti in Cumbum panchayat union laid a siege to the Government Kallar Primary School at their village near here on Monday condemning shortage of teachers and poor care to students.
They refused to send their children to the school since morning. Earlier, the school had three teachers only to man 120 students in one to five classes. Shortage of teachers had been haunting the school for a long time. The office of the chief educational officer transferred one of the three teachers to a nearby government school on deputation. Even if one teacher went on leave, the lone teacher had to struggle to take care of all the children, the parents stated.
Indignation of parents rose high, when some parents saw their wards roaming on streets near the school and loitering on the play ground during school hours recently.
“The school authorities should bring back the teacher sent to the nearby school on deputation. Only then, we will send our children to the school,” the parents demanded.
Revenue officials came to the spot and appealed to the parents to abandon the agitation and send their children to school.
But the parents agreed to give up their agitation but insisted to bring the teacher back and refused to send their children to school.
School closed
Already, a government primary school in Goodalur municipality was closed recently owing to poor strength. The students’ strength in the school had been dwindling sharply and scaled down to single digit. The school was closed. The students were shifted to a nearby school and teachers transferred to other schools.