Villagers chip in to raise building for school

Madurai: A panchayat union primary school at Mealchakkudi village in Madurai district has set an example of how a local community can contribute to the development of an institution.

When the school made a request for an additional building, the government wanted it to arrange its own land for the construction. The local villagers donated 13 cent of land, which they had purchased for development of the village, to the school. The building has now been constructed at a cost of Rs 6.5 lakh with funds from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme. It is likely to be opened soon.

The school celebrated its annual day for the first time in 56 years and honoured the villagers who donated the land. Assistant elementary education officer S John Kennedy Alexander, school headmistress S Sundaravalli and other teachers and local villagers attended.

The school is now functioning with four teachers, including the headmistress. It is the only school in Melachakkudi, also called Valayarchakudi, village. With a population of about 1,400, the village has not produced a single graduate yet.

Its students' strength was about 35 and there were many dropouts too till the present headmistress took charge in 2008.

"Many villagers are employed in bricks kilns. Our teachers created awareness among the villagers about the importance of sending their children to school. Since the children did not have proper clothes, we arranged sponsorship and gave two sets of uniform to each student. The school now has 122 students," headmistress S Sundaravalli told TOI.

When the school needed to upgrade its infrastructure, the education authority was approached. But the school was asked to arrange its own land for construction of a building. "We met the village leaders, including Naachan and Mookkan. After discussions for eight months, they were convinced and donated the land which was then registered in the name of the school," said J Robert, a teacher of the school.

Madurai East MLA K Tamilarasan contributed Rs 1.17 lakh to construct a compound wall on one side of the land. Subsequently, the Sarva Shiksa Abhiyan released Rs 6.5 lakh to construct the building.

The teacher said the school was now trying to get a computer, at least an old one.

Under the elementary education department, there are 23,578 primary schools, of which about 4,000 school have more than 100 children. About 2,000 schools need good infrastructure," said Robert.