POONAMALLEE: Visually challenged students on hunger strike

By G Saravanan
Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on June 12, 2010:

CHENNAI: Over 70 students of the Poonamallee Government School for the Visually Challenged on Friday began an indefinite hunger strike on the school premises seeking immediate removal of head master in-charge David Wilson for alleged mismanagement and harassment.
Striking students told Express that their headmaster, who was given a temporary charge of the school about a year ago and working there for the past 20 years, had ruined the school and its infrastructure without utilising the government funds in a proper manner.
Stating that their agitation was not against the government, one of the students said, “Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who holds the differently-abled welfare department, is doling out several funds for the development of the visually challenged, but headmasters like David Wilson and officials at the Commissionerate for the Differently Abled are not utilising it properly and have made our life difficult here.”
The students alleged that the headmaster, who reportedly runs a matriculation school at Tambaram, had failed to give importance to visually challenged students at Poonamallee school.
More than 150 students are studying in the school and staying in a hostel on the premises.
To pacify the agitating students, Commissioner for the Differently Abled, C Vijayaraj Kumar, asked Assistant Director (Special Schools) Suganthy to go to the spot.
According to the students, she used abusive language when they refused to withdraw the agitation.
In a late evening development to suppress their agitation, all the students studying in classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 were ‘asked’ to vacate their hostels by Saturday morning.
Attempts to contact headmaster David Wilson for his comments over the allegations turned futile as he remained unreachable throughout the day.
When contacted, Commissioner Vijayaraj Kumar said, “We are trying to sort it out. Students should not indulge in such activities pressing their demands.” He also said the Commissionerate for the Welfare of theDifferently -abled did not receive any letter detailing the students’ demand.