Eviction operations affect children's education: Chennai corporation official

CHENNAI: Slum children taken to city outskirts as part of eviction drives are heavily disadvantaged by the operations, say corporation officials.

Maintaining that student numbers have not reduced considerably in corporation schools, as a fallout of the eviction process, the officials said they were exploring the option of accommodating children of evicted families in two of corporation’s  residential schools as an alternative.

The Saidapet Girls Higher Secondary which had 60 students boarding and studying is now down to 15 students, according to officials. “Many girls left after the families were evicted. So, there is space for families who wish to leave their children at our hostels so that they could continue studies. But not many choose to,” observed a senior official.

“The truth is that children taken to Kannagi Nagar, Thoraipakkam and other resettlements are at a disadvantage. You only have to visit the schools there to find out that the number of students in each class is far beyond capacity,” said an official.

Part of the reason for the situation is the state government’s indecisiveness in handing over the control of schools in the extended corporation limits to the local body.  The fact that the issue remains unsolved even after five years of city expansion is a pity, said officials.

“We have no say over what facilities the schools have. As a compromise, we have agreed to construct three new schools in the resettlement colonies which the department of education will take control of,” said an official.

By way of offering a chance to evicted children, the corporation had in 2015 discussed the possibility of providing free transportation to children in MTC buses  to their respective schools. Unsurprisingly, it did not work out but
not due to MTC’s reluctance. “The cost estimate was too high,” said an
official.