The Hindu 18.11.2010
Where garbage, pigs, and dogs co-exist
Serena Josephine. M
FAR FROM GOOD: The Municipal Middle School at Konamedu in Vaniyambadi, which has been overflowing with civic woes.
VANIYAMBADI: The campus of the Municipal Middle School at Konamedu in Vaniyambadi has turned into a garbage dump and a place for open defecation for residents of the nearby areas. This has forced students and teachers of the school to struggle with unhygienic surroundings.
The 300 students of the school have been bearing the brunt of indiscriminate dumping of garbage and open defecation by residents of the surrounding area. Though sanitary workers of the Vaniyambadi Municipality remove the garbage from the school campus on a daily basis, residents continue to dump waste both at the entrance of the school and inside the campus. Stench fills the school campus owing to the garbage.
The school has students – both boys and girls – studying from Class I to VIII and eight teachers. “There are eight classrooms for the school. Residents of the nearby area defecate on the school campus. As a result, we keep only the main doors of the classrooms open and the windows remain closed owing to the stench,” noted a teacher.
Being used as a thoroughfare for the residents of adjoining areas, the school is located next to a slaughter-house. Stray dogs and pigs are found on the school campus adding to the woes of the students. “The girl students cannot go to the toilet at the school as the entrance is used for open defecation by the residents. It is very filthy and students are forced to put up with such a miserable condition. So, the toilets are kept closed,” a staffer pointed out.
The school staff said the municipal workers clean the premises every day, but the condition is the same every morning when the school opens. At times, liquor bottles and packets are also found near the school building.
The staff said that the school had a compound wall only at the front side. “If the school has a complete compound wall at the other sides too, then entry of outsiders will be prevented and these problems will cease to exist,” a staff said. Authorities of the Vaniyambadi Municipality said residents of the nearby area defecate on the school campus despite having a public toilet in the locality.
