Mayithara Children's Home was converted into girls' home

Alappuzha: Santhosh, Abhijit and Prashanth, who were inmates of Mayithara Children’s home, have lost their first day in school because of official apathy. Dreams of these boys, two of them Class X students, were shattered by the recent order of the social justice department (SJD) making it a girl's home. They have no idea where to enrol. They were students at DVHS Charamangalam near Cherthala till last year. They were relocated to Pathanamthitta. But the officials, they say, had given admission tickets to new homes only on Wednesday evening.

The officials say they missed it because they failed to turn up in time. Twenty-three poor boys were staying here, and they all got allotments a month before its conversion. "We had asked all inmates to be present on May 26 at home after the vacation to give notification on new homes. Those who failed to turn up may have missed it," a CWC official said. But effectively, the three have lost their classes in the initial days while Right to Education Act stipulates every student must be made attend 1000-hr class in an academic year. The accommodation of Abhijith remains tatters. Though he was given a letter to Nooranad home, it refused to admit him saying it had crossed 12.

They were accommodated here by the efforts of a local teacher, Geethakumari, some years ago. She accuses officers of derailing their education. “Their transfer certificates should go to relocated schools. This job had to be done by the superintendent of concerned homes. But they remain at DVHS, Cherthala, about hundred kilometres away,” she says. ‘The officials should have called a meeting of the parents before they were relocated. But, none of the parents was informed about the changes," she says.

The boys were removed on May 13 saying the SJD wants a girl’s home in every district. The girls were shifted to the compound where an observation centre was already functioning.  Alappuzha legislator and finance minister Dr T.M. Thomas Isaac had taken up the matter with SJD minister K.K. Shylaja, but the district child protection officer went on evicting boys. Some 31 minor girls are currently accommodated at Mayithara home.