Minivans and trucks from nearby wholesale shops parked on the street on which Veerasamy Mudaliar Primary Schoo... Read More

COIMBATORE: While the Centre is going full steam in its Swacch Bharat mission and student enrolment in schools, here is a 164-year-old government-aided school in Coimbatore which is losing students as they find the stench and filth in the surroundings unbearable; the public uses the compound wall of the school as a urinal.

Started in 1854, the Veerasamy Mudaliar Primary School is located on Veerasamy Mudaliar School Street, a small bylane off the busy Raja Street. The school, which has Classes I to V, had around 600 students in eight sections about five years ago. Now, it has only around 200. School authorities attribute the fall in strength to the unbearable stench from the surroundings.

Corporation staff clean area only after series of complaints

Minivans and trucks from nearby wholesale shops parked on the street provide a convenient cover for people to urinate, say teachers of the school. A tiny urinal put up by the corporation near the school compound is of no use, they say. When TOI visited the spot on Monday, some people were using the urinal, while some were seen squatting in front of the school compound. The pavement in front of the school was littered with filth and glass bottles.

V C Jambulingam, former headmaster who is now a member of the executive committee, says several parents have cited this as the reason for moving their children to other schools. “During admissions, parents have told me they were unhappy about the unhygienic condition of the street. Many of them have moved their children to other schools. Open urination is the main reason,” he says. The school provides noon meal to children. Teachers say the stench makes it tough for children at lunch.

School authorities say corporation officials clean the area when they approach them. “We have admonished people who urinate in front of the school, but it’s of no use. Only after relieving themselves do they realise that it’s a school compound,” says A Vijayalakshmi, another executive committee member of the school. She said that on being informed, police had visited the place and admonished people who urinated there, but the practice continued.

S Vaidehi, whose son studies in Class II, says she is considering shifting her son to another school. “I feel bad when I drop my son to school amid the stench,” she says. R Mariappan, whose son studies in Class V, says he had complained about the issue to the headmistress several times. “They inform the corporation people who clean the place now and then, but they too are helpless before insensitive people who urinate there,” he says.

