The Government Boys Higher Secondary School on the spacious 10 acre campus at Vannivedu village near Walajah town in Ranipet where former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan studied will be restored soon.
Ranipet Collector J.U. Chandrakala inspected the dilapidated building on Tuesday along with teachers and school headmistress P. Bhavani to assess the condition of the structure. “The heritage building remains closed since 2010 due to water seepage on its roof. Prior to it, classes for XI and XII were taken in the building for many years,” said M. Satish Kumar, assistant headmaster.
Among noted alumni were mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who did his SSLC in the school, and Tamil scholar Mu. Varatharasanar whose novel ‘Agal Vilakku’ won him Sahitya Akademi award. V.S. Sampath, who served as Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) between 2012-2015 also studied in the school.
Education officials said that the school, which was opened in 1867, is a ‘H’ shaped building with two columns of classrooms.
Initially, the school was functioning as a primary school under Walajahpet municipality. After independence, the State government took over the school and upgraded it into a high school in 1972. The school became a higher secondary school in 1978. English medium was also introduced that year.
During its best years, the school had an enrollment of over 1,000 students in the early 2000. Additional school buildings under NABARD scheme were built to provide adequate space for students.
Over the years, the building became weak. In its report, PWD has noted that the Madras terrace roofing has been damaged in corridor areas and classrooms. The Mangalore tile roof sunshade has to be restored.
Lime plastering of walls in most of the building has peeled off. Most of the areas on the roof are leaky. Thick growth of vegetation can also be found at joints of walls in the building. Some of restoration work suggested by an expert team of PWD includes removal of the existing lime plastering, arches, domes and special type of ceiling; reconstruction of brick masonry wall with similar type of bricks in lime mortar; replastering the wall pillars and arches with lime mortar and redoing of Madras Terrace roof in all floors.
“The entire restoration work will cost around ₹9 crore. Once the State government gives its nod, we will start the work and restore the building at the earliest,” J. Srinivasan, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), PWD (Conservation), told The Hindu.
Published - January 21, 2025 07:22 pm IST
