Corporation schools in Coimbatore lack sufficient seating infrastructure:
The Corporation is yet to provide benches and tables to several schools under its administration. Since students are forced to sit on the floor, teachers instruct them to leave their footwear outside classrooms.
The civic body has placed order for over 2,300 seating arrangements with the Tamilnadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI), recently and the first phase of distribution will commence soon, said Corporation Commissioner M. Prathap.
A teacher in a Corporation school, requesting anonymity, said that the children are asked to leave their footwear outside the classroom since there are no benches and the mats or the floor the children sit will be soiled, if shoes are permitted inside. “This is for sanitary purposes. They may use for the toilet facilities or to play on the ground. The classrooms will become wet and dirty if shoes are allowed,” she said
S. Rajeshwari, whose daughter studies in a Corporation Elementary School in Ganapathy, said that the premises are not maintained well and are unhygienic, which adds to the fear while children roam without footwear. Children sometimes run across the dusty grounds of the campus without shoes, since they don’t want to keep wearing and removing their footwear, which is dangerous, she added.
It is also to be noted that Mayor Kalpana Anandakumar held inspection at Velandipalayam Corporation High School under Ward 42 on July 10, where the primary section classrooms lacked benches and tables.
A total of 84 schools function with 24,777 students under the Corporation. As per the Corporation Budget this year, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of students enrolling in corporation schools has increased. The Commissioner said a list on number of benches and desks needed has been sought from the heads of schools in the city. According to sources, the first phase of purchase from TANSI was made for a total of 2,387 bench and table sets at an estimated cost of ₹2.49 crore. Of this, 973 is for students from Classes L.K.G to Class III, 700 for Classes IV-V, 375 for Classes VI-VIII, and 339 for Classes IX to XII.
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