PATHANAMTHITTA: Tribal children of Sabarimala forests, especially those living in the Chalakayam area, are being denied basic education facilities at a time when the authorities celebrated school ‘pravesanolsavam’ with much fanfare by spending lakhs of rupees across the state.The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Tribal Development Department and the local self-government institutions have done nothing to improve the elementary educational facilities of these neglected children.Textbooks, clothes, schoolbags and other educational aids are still beyond the reach of the 40-odd tribal children, who study in the two “one-teacher schools.” The most unfortunate aspect is that these poverty-stricken children have barely anything to eat in the afternoon. These children, aged between five and 10 years, study in temporary sheds, one located near Chalakayam and other at Pannapara. These sheds have plastic sheets as roof-cover supported by wooden poles without any cover on the four sides to brave the rain.Thirty-year-old Saneesh of Ranni, about 60 km away from Chalakayam, is the head of the “one-teacher school” near Chalakayam, which does not have a chair, benches or desks. “Though 15 students are in this school, only five to seven attend classes during rainy days,” Saneesh said. “Illiteracy of parents, lack of adequate food and unfriendly geographical location are among the stumbling blocks in sending children to school,” he said.The tribal families, whose livelihood is from the forest produce, are facing acute poverty owing to shortage of products like honey and exploitation by middlemen.“During monsoon season, we could not collect honey or other forest produce due to the inclement weather conditions”, Rajani, the mother of two children who study in the school, said. “We have not received any food items, including ration items, for the past one-and-a-half months”, she said. “How can we send the children to the school with empty stomachs and the school offering no noon meal?” Rajani asked.
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