Six tribal children in the remote village of Mangaparakudi remain out of school due to a lack of local educational facilities.
The children, aged between five and eight years, have never attended school or kindergarten. The nearest primary school is in Champakadu, about 8 kilometers away, deep inside the forest. The only way to reach the school is by walking through dense forest areas known to have wild animals like tigers and leopards.
There are no roads or transport services to the settlement. Even the government’s Vidya Vahini school bus cannot reach the village because of its remote location.
Earlier, a small single-teacher school operated within the settlement, providing basic education to local children. But a few years ago, the government closed all single-teacher schools across the state. Since then, children in Mangaparakudi have lost access to formal education.
Parents tried to send their children to school by walking through the forest daily. However, the journey was long, dangerous, and time-consuming. It also hurt their ability to earn a living, so they eventually stopped sending their younger children to school. While older children could continue their studies by staying in hostels outside the village, younger ones had to stay home with their parents.
Local tribal leader Tirumala Swamy has urged the authorities to reopen a one-teacher school in Mangaparakudi. He said this would help ensure that these children, who belong to a marginalized community, receive basic education close to home.
