For the third time in a row, students of the Forest Government Higher Secondary School in Nellivasal, a small tribal village in Jawadhu Hills of Tirupattur district, secured 97.3 percent in the Class XII examination.
Among three forest higher secondary schools in Tamil Nadu, which are run by Forest Department under Tribal Welfare Fund since 1950, Nellivasal school secured the top position in terms of total pass percentage. Other two forest schools in Jamunamarathur (Tiruvannamalai) and Pudur Nadu (Tirupattur) got pass percentage of 94% and 85%, respectively.
Except one student, the remaining 37 students, including 14 tribal girls, passed with more than 70% in the board examination. These students are the third batch of Class XII after the school was upgraded to higher secondary level in 2021. “Special coaching for students helped our daughter to clear the exams. We will ensure that she completes her college education too,” said S. Muniammal, a parent.
Built in 1952, the school is the second oldest forest school after Jamanamarathur in Tiruvannamalai, which was built a year prior to it in 1951. The school was upgraded to middle school in 1990.
A decade and half later, the school became a high school in 2005 before it was upgraded into higher secondary level in 2021 with a total of 302 students, including 114 girls. “School dropout among girls remains a key challenge as they often get married once they fail, especially in Class XI. We are creating awareness among parents to send their children for studies,” said 59-year-old headmaster K. Chandrakumar.
Nellivasal Nadu village comprises eight tribal hamlets, including Puliyur, Melpattu, Nellipattu, Malayanallipattu and Malai Tirupattur, on the south of Jawadhu Hills in Tirupattur.
Education officials said it was not an easy achievement for these tribal students in Nellivasal as the school does not have science labs and adequate number of classrooms. They trekked to a forest school in Pudur Nadu, 14 kms away from Nellivasal, to attend practical classes.
Classes for subjects like commerce and physics were also taken jointly at Pudur Nadu school as the school in Nellivasal does not have adequate qualified teachers for teaching subjects. Of the 13 teachers, six, including the headmaster, stayed at Nellivasal Nadu due to lack of frequent bus services to Tirupattur town, around 46 kms from Nellivasal. Currently, a lone bus service (250; Nellivasal Nadu - Tirupattur) ply twice a day, morning and evening.
Except for the lone forest school in Top Slip (Pollachi), 17 other schools are located in Jawadhu Hills covering Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Tirupattur. Among them, Tiruvannamalai has the highest number of schools at 11, followed by Tirupattur (7).
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