Drop in number of students utilising WRD-operated free bus service from Parambikulam Dam site to plains

The Water Resource Department is operating a bus exclusively for 10 students at the Parambikulam Dam site who are pursuing school education beyond primary level in the plains, travelling for two hours in each direction every day.

The number of students availing of the bus facility has come down from 18 in recent years, according to officials of the department that has administrative control over the dam site on the Kerala side.

Out of the 10 students, four are studying in classes VI to X at the Government Higher Secondary School at Vettaikaranpudur in the plains. Six others are studying at high and higher secondary level in the Government Higher Secondary School, Anamalai.

The students begin their travel at 6.30 a.m. from the dam site. They begin their return journey at 5 p.m., and by the time they reach their homes, darkness sets in. Students, according to WRD sources, have acclimatised themselves to the schedule.

The department is understood to be staring at the eventuality of the student number dropping further in the coming years.

It is because the number of students in the government primary school of Tamil Nadu at the dam site has also been on the decline.

The enrolment has come down as the number of WRD staff living in the quarters has shrunk, since the retirement vacancies have not been filled for long, it is learnt.

The primary school earlier used to benefit children belonging to the tribal community in Kerala. Over the years, the students are being educated in boarding schools in towns and cities in Kerala, local sources said.