Four school teachers from Erode, Tamil Nadu, are visiting a hill village on bikes every day to teach and provide breakfast and lunch as recent floods have damaged the road, officials told the TNIE.
Due to continuous heavy rains in Erode in mid-October, the wild streams that cross the main road to Vilankombai and Kembanur villages were flooded next to the KunderiPallam dam near Gobichettipalayam. It also severely damaged the road leading to the two villages.
Around 40 tribal families live in Vilankombai and around 20 tribal families live in Kembanur. There are about 29 school children in those villages. 18 of them were being taken to Vinoba Nagar middle school, about 6 km away, and 11 students to the Government Higher Secondary School in Kongarpalayam, about 10 km away, in vans due to the wild animal movement. Currently, the education of these students is allegedly affected as vehicles are unable to pick up students due to road damage.
District administration has taken alternative measures to prevent the educational environment of those students from being affected. E Maan Vizhi, Chief Educational Officer of Erode, told the TNIE, "We visited both villages and discussed with the villagers. We came to know that most of the students from Kembanur also have houses near Vinoba Nagar. This means they don't have issues going to school. But the students of Vilankombai have been facing difficulties. Therefore, for the convenience of more than 20 students from Vilankombai, arrangements have been made for four teachers to visit the village every day on bike to conduct lessons from November 10."
"We are sending two teachers each from primary school and secondary school on a rotational basis who give lessons at the village's community hall. In addition, breakfasts and lunches are delivered to the students via bikes every day. This practice will continue until the road is restored."
The forest department is carrying out repair work in the damaged areas of the road, said Kulal Yogesh Vilas, DFO of Sathyamangalam Forest Division.
(Article by P Srinivasan of The New Indian Express)
