CHENNAI:  On a muggy Thursday afternoon, a handful of teens boys from the Perumbakkam resettlement colony came together for a game of marbles. Karthik* (15), who was one among them, set the ball rolling.

It drew a loud cheer from the other boys and when it was all said and done, Karthik shot a high five to the winner and promised to put up a better fight next time.

When asked why were they not in school on a working day, the boys said that they dropped out because their families were resettled while the academic year was still on and journey to their old schools was ‘tiresome’.

Karthik’s family was among 2,092 who were evicted from Sathyavani Muthu Nagar at Park Town in January and he was a class 9 student at a government-aided school near Chintadripet.

“For the first few days, I took a two-hour bus journey to get to my old school. Then, I got tired. My mother made an unsuccessful attempt to enrol me in the government school within the resettlement here,” he said.

Despite over 20,000 families being relocated from slums over the last few years, Perumbakkam has only two schools: an elementary school and a high school.

There is hardly any vacancy in either school, forcing children to drop out.

Meanwhile, Vadivu, a sanitary worker at a government hospital, dragged her 10-year-old son for enrolment in class 5 at the government school within the colony. After a three-week search, Vadivu had found a job as a sweeper in a hospital nearby.

“Since I have this new job, I cannot take him to his old school everyday. It costs me Rs 10 to get to the bus stop, Rs 27 for bus journey to Chindadiripet and Rs 6 from that bus stop to his school. I cannot spend Rs 90 everyday,” she rued.

Her son angrily stomped away and buried his face on a wall crying.

While bus facilities to Chintadiripet have been made free for students, it is not the case for parents. Further, there are very few buses plying between Perumbakkam and the city during school hours.

A bus shuttle, arranged by a public representative for school children, goes packed. Shanthi*, the mother of an eight-year-old girl, said her daughter travels in that bus and is forced to sit on the floor of the bus.

When Express visited a few schools near Park Town and Chintadripet, teachers said even though students found the bus shuttle useful, they were extremely exhausted by the time they arrived in school. 

An Assessment of the two schools by Vanessa Peter, policy researcher, Information and Resource Centre for Deprived Urban Communities, found the primary school is located inside a tenement and does not have facilities like adequate lighting and ventilation.

Children are made to sit on the floor in classrooms.

As per records, the high school has a strength of 2,400, but only about 1,500 turn up regularly.

The mid-day meal is not prepared in the school campus and hence, the quantity is not assessed on a daily basis. This has resulted in food falling short on most days. Students have also complained about quality of food.

Demands

•  Stop mid-academic year eviction
•  Conduct survey of total number of children in school-going age at resettlement
•  Carry-out evictions and relocation only after enough schools are operational as per RTE Act
•  Ply more buses to the city