Meera Srinivasan
| There are no sweepers and scavengers in some schools |
CHENNAI: It is about lunch time and class I students of this Corporation Primary School in north Chennai are busy rolling their mats, after placing their ABL cards in the respective racks. Just before they sit down for lunch, children barely two-foot-tall fill plastic pots with water, carry them and place them near their rooms.
Their work does not stop there. Some of them sweep classrooms and even clean toilets on a daily basis. “We have no other option. Despite several requests, we are yet to get sweepers and scavengers for our school,” says the head of the school, on condition of anonymity.
This is not the only such school. A visit to a few other Corporation Primary schools revealed that though they were well equipped in academic terms, they did not have sweepers or scavengers. The classrooms, though without furniture for the students, have new tiles laid, pretty mats for the children and the complete ABL material adding colour to the classroom ambience. However, once outside the classroom, the children seem to morph into workers, with a lot of unpleasant tasks finding place in their daily routine.
When contacted, Chennai Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said that the civic body will look into the issue immediately. “They should definitely not make children work. The contracts for sweepers, scavengers and watchmen may have expired in some schools, but we have given the heads a lump sum to engage them till the new contract is finalised,” he said.
The Corporation has also called for tenders for the same and all schools will be provided with sweepers and scavengers by July 15, he assured.
But lack of funds should not be problem as the Chennai Corporation has a huge sum available exclusively for elementary education. A small percentage of the property tax goes towards the elementary education fund maintained by it .
In response to an application filed under the Right to Information Act by A.K.Venkatasubramanian, former bureaucrat and presently one of the trustees of Catalyst Trust, the Corporation declared that at the end of 2007-08, the closing balance stood at nearly Rs.117.5 crore. “My first charge is against the tax payer. Despite paying their taxes, they do not care to find out how it is used, because their children do not go to Corporation schools, you see,” Mr. Venkatasubramanian said. Pointing to the money available, he said: “You may have all the resources and the most wonderful rules on paper, but everything lies in the implementation and the civil society has to stand up and ask questions,” he said.
However, despite the available funds, children, teachers or heads are also not spared of the cleaning tasks in some schools. “In the mornings, all of us, along with the students sweep the classrooms. We used to have sweepers and scavengers engaged on a contract basis. It has been several months since the contract expired, but no action has been taken.” Consequently, the little students are also made to clean their toilets every other day. “We feel miserable, but how will they use it if it is not cleaned?” asked the school head.
Sadly, a few teachers did not even see why this was a problem. “See, the Corporation built us a new building, they laid new flooring and have given us all the facilities. There is some delay in appointing sweepers, so we manage with the children,” said a teacher.
There seem to be sporadic efforts to address infrastructure requirements in schools, but a systematic appraisal of the schools and follow up action is important, say experts. While releasing its budget, the Corporation also releases a booklet on the funds for elementary education.
According to the booklet on Elementary Education Fund released by it with budget estimates for 2009-10, Rs.77.52 crore is the estimated income.
However, the manual does not have detailed information on how the money was spent or the list of schools that benefited, Mr. Venkatasubramanian added.
In response to this, Mr. Lakhoni said that the necessary details would certainly be included hence.
