On any busy day, if you are travelling across Nadupatti during school hours, you will see three teachers carefully guiding the students across the highway. Located on a highway, this school is Panchayat Union Primary School at Nadupatti, near Vaiyampatti on Tiruchy-Dindugal highway. The teachers have taken it upon themselves to escort those students coming to the school from different villages surrounding this highway road.
Over 120 students study in this school and they come from villages including Sooramadai, Merkukalam and Ramareddiyapatti, which are on the other side of the road. A Umamaheshwari, Headmistress of the school, said, "Over 40 students come from villages across the road. It is our teachers who take the students from the school and drop them off on the other side of the road carefully."
She explained, "Most of our wards' parents work as labourers in mills or farms. So, we cannot expect them to be on time to school. They might be afraid to send the children to the school across a highway. We didn't want a highway to stop any child from coming to school." So, the teachers T Podhumponnu, A Amalorpavamary and Farokiyaraj and the HM too take turns to hold the fort at school for those children waiting and ferry the children across the highway. "Some parents come to pick up their wards themselves, some can't. They call us if there is any change in plans," she added.
A parent speaking to TNIE said, "They don't just escort students across the road. They are giving us a sense of safety. Many wouldn't send their wards across a highway. It is because of the teachers that these parents confidently send their children."
