M D OMJASVIN By Express News Service CHENNAI: Three out of the five government schools built by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) for the relocated Perumbakkam residents are yet to be taken over by the state education department. The new school buildings have been locked for almost three years now, as a result of which, hundreds of relocated students either don’t go to schools or have to travel to faraway distances. Latha, a resident, said her son who studies seventh standard, travels two hours to reach his school in Chintadripet.‘‘My son leaves at 6 am in the morning and boards the heavily crowded bus along with others. He returns home by 7 pm or sometimes even late,’’ said Latha. The TNSCB has identified about 350 students from around 1000 families which were relocated in the past few weeks. Apart from this, several hundred students who were relocated in past two years still do not have a school. TNSCB officials told Express that they had diligently built adequate schools ahead of newer relocations in 2016 itself. ‘‘The three schools; nursery, middle and primary, can easily accommodate upto thousand students together. If these schools function, drop out rates will become less,’’ said an official. The official said that the TNSCB had requested the state education department to take over the schools several times but only in vain. ‘‘Whenever we requested, they have said there is a dearth of qualified staff and less funds to run the schools,’’ said the official. When Express visited Perumbakkam, many children said they would happily join the new government schools if they were opened soon. Vasanth Kumar, a fourth standard student, said he travels 40 kms to and fro from Perumbakkam to Thousand Lights. He said the buses arranged by TNSCB are overcrowded and even adults join the school bus. ‘‘Every day, many adults get into the bus along with us. We are forced to stand and it is not a comfortable journey to school,’’ he said. As per United Nations guidelines for eviction, competent state authorities must ensure that the evicted persons get all basic facilities including education. Though the new school buildings are yet to be functional, hundreds of children continue to be evicted to Perumbakkam. Officials from the education department said that once the relocation is complete fully, a survey would be taken to identify the total number of students. ‘‘Currently, some students are being admitted into the existing schools also. The department will soon decide on when the news schools will be taken over,’’ said the official.

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