No bank account means no lessons for Irular student

No bank account means no lessons for Irular student

Komal Gautham@timesgroup.com

Chennai:29.11.2021

The rain and the floods couldn’t deter Rakesh* (name changed), a Class IX student from going to school. But he didn’t know there was another obstacle: a bank account. The boy who hails from an Irular tribal hamlet in Kannima Nagar in Thiruporur, Chengalpet district, hasn’t been allowed to attend classes in the government school located close by, as he did not have a savings bank account.

All tribal students under pre-matric scholarship scheme get ₹8000 per year and that money is credited to their personal savings bank account.

His mother, Rekha* said they were uneducated and also unemployed due to covid and the floods. “ Most of us don’t have identity proof. With great difficulty I opened the bank account for my elder son and daughter. However, for the third child, I was told to have a minimum balance of ₹1,000. It is impossible for us to save ₹1,000. But the bank officials said we can’t withdraw the scholarship money without having a bank account for my child. Now I have taken up a job and am waiting for my salary to open my son’s account,” she said. She added that when she went to the school after it opened a month ago, the teacher there told her to come back only after the bank account had been opened.

Many in the hamlet have dropped out due to several factors including lack of roads leading to their hamlets and the distance from the school. “However, no child was so far stopped from studying because of a bank account,” said S Mohana, one of the village heads. She added that many of them faced this problem this month.

When TOI spoke to the headmaster of Government Higher Secondary School, Nemmeli, she said the allegation is not true. “Yes, we do insist on them opening a bank account. But we have not stopped any child,” she said. The teacher who had stopped the child from attending classes could not be contacted.

Deepa Umashankar, of Wings to Hope, an NGO that works exclusively with these tribes, said no student can be stopped from attending classes.

A senior education department officer told TOI he would look into the issue and ensure the child is allowed to attend classes. “No one can be stopped from attending school. We will set this right,” he said.