Auto Facility For Irular Tribe Children At Government Expense, Yet Another Wonder Of Dravidian Model

Gandhigram village is located in Thiruvallur district on the Chennai-Tirupati highway. The area is inhabited by the Irular tribe comprising more than 60 families. Mahesh is the Principal of the school which is located 5 km from Gandhigram.

A total of 256 students study in this school, out of which 40 belong to the Irular tribe. Principal Mahesh noticed that the discontinuance rate of the children belonging to the tribe is constantly increasing.

To know the reason behind the drop out, Mahesh inquired from all angles and discovered that children are studying properly till 5th standard in a local school but the drop-out rate is higher when students come to Thomur Government Higher Secondary school to study beyond 6th standard.

The reason being, lack of proper transport facility. Due to this, students are forced to walk 5 km daily through farms to reach school thus resulting in high drop-outs. During the rainy season, the flooded farms hinder the students from reaching schools.

Realising the difficulty for students, the Principal informed the education authorities to resolve the issue, so that no child is deprived of education due to lack of transport facilities. The authorities duly brought the issue to the attention of the District Collector.

The District Collector, knowing the importance of education, made travel arrangements for the students via private auto at the expense of the Tamil Nadu government. Approximately, 45 children belonging to the Irular tribe are travelling to school in auto joyfully without any barriers to their education.

Sathana, a student said, "Until now, we were going to school on foot through pathways in farms which contain knee-deep stagnant water during monsoon season, making it difficult to pass the fields. While crossing the flooded pathways uniforms will get drenched and we will reach schools in wet clothes.

The travel difficulty and snake infestations in farms led to students dropping out from schools, realising which the Principal took necessary steps. Heartfelt gratitude to CM Stalin, the Headmaster and District Collector, who are responsible for the continuation of our studies by arranging private auto."

Ramesh, parent of a student, said, "In order to establish social justice and equality in providing education, the government under CM Stalin has arranged an auto facility for our children. For this, we are forever in debt to CM Stalin."

According to a teacher, after the travel arrangements by the government the dropout rate has decreased and attendance has improved among the students.

One of the students' father said, "When teachers complain about the irregularity in the attendance of our children, I used to tell them about the lack of transport facility. The government has immediately arranged auto facilities once they came to know about the issue. I am obliged to thank the government on behalf of my village for ensuring a better future for our children."