At Tondiarpet’s Chennai Middle School, every corridor and even the small ground inside the premises are being used as classrooms. With a total strength of 670 students, the school run by Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) functions on a shift basis—students from LKG to Class 5 attend classes for four hours in the morning (between 8:30am to 12:30pm) while students from classes six to eight attend classes for four hours in the afternoon (12:30pm to 4:30pm). These arrangements have been in place for the last two years as the main building of the school needed to be rebuilt and the existing building only has ten classrooms.
Although GCC officials processed an order to reconstruct the school’s main building this year, the construction is expected to be completed only by May 2024, which means the existing arrangements would have to be followed for the entire academic year. “Around 130 students were pulled out of our school by parents for this year citing lack of proper infrastructure,” a senior teacher from the school said.
Classes being held on a shift basis outside due to lack of enough classrooms and space at Tondiarpet’s Chennai Middle School.
The GCC runs 281 schools in the city. The objective of these schools is to increase literacy rate and stop marginalised students and those from lower middle class background from dropping out. But the construction activities, which dragged on, inconvenienced the students so much that parents thought it was better to pull them out. Many who dropped out couldn't afford private schools joined the 29 government-run schools in the city. Every GCC zone has at least 10 corporation schools which ensure students have access to education and mid-day/morning meals.
Malar, a parent of a student from the school, told TNM, “There is hardly any learning happening in these four hour schedules. My child is also complaining about sitting in the heat. If it rains, that's again another problem because they cannot hold classes on the ground and sometimes the corridors also get wet. It has been two years already.” She further alleged that the work is progressing at snail's pace and pointed out that even the demolition is not fully complete yet.
The partially demolished building of Chennai Middle School in Tondiarpet.
However, Tondiarpet’s Chennai Middle School isn’t the only corporation school to be undergoing this problem. Chennai Middle School in Thiruvottiyur and Chennai Primary School in Manali have also reported similar problems.
At Manali’s Chennai Primary School, reconstruction of a portion of the building was initiated in the first half of 2022. With only eight classrooms for a strength of more than thousand, students were accommodated at the councillor’s office which is located near the school. While the construction is still on-going, the school has reported a drastic drop in the number of students who have enrolled for this academic year. “There were 1400 students last year and the number has gone down by 620 this year because parents are unhappy about not having enough classrooms. That is almost half the number,” the ward’s councillor RG Rajesh Sekar told TNM.
When TNM visited the primary school in Manali, the students were seated in the corridors where classes were being held. The on-going construction is likely to conclude in the next two to three months, Rajesh said.
‘No ventilation in narrow corridors’
At the Chennai Middle School in Thiruvottiyur, there are two buildings- old and new. Despite using all the classrooms available at both the buildings, the school is short of classrooms. “Last year we had a total of 650 students. Since we couldn’t accommodate all of them, we held classes in a neighbouring house. This year, we voluntarily reduced the number of admissions by one hundred and yet, we hold classes in the corridors,” a source from the school said.
When TNM visited the school, around 30 female students from class eight were seated for classes in a narrow corridor inside the new building. A source from the school said that 30 students raised complaints of uneasiness for around one month, starting June 12, as there was no ventilation in the narrow corridor. A ceiling fan was installed in the second week of July because the teachers didn’t want the girls to stop coming to school, the source added.
Class VIII-A consisting of 30 female students being held in a corridor at Thiruvottiyur’s Chennai middle school.
However, the authorities of the school have their apprehensions regarding the construction which is yet to commence. Firstly, since the new building only has three classrooms, they are unsure of how to accommodate 550 students when the old building goes for reconstruction. “Secondly, the ceiling of the new building, which is barely four years old, has been leaking everytime it rains. Because of that, one of the ceiling fans has stopped working. The quality of work itself comes under question,” the source added.
TNM reached out to GCC Commissioner Dr J Radhakrishnan regarding these issues. “Re-developing old school buildings is ultimately necessary for the students. Our officials including the zonal officers will take the necessary steps to help these schools and ensure that students’ education is not hindered,” he assured.