6 months after govt fiat, schools yet to appoint nodal officers to tackle stray dog menace | Chennai News
Chennai: Six months after the state govt ordered school headmasters to appoint nodal officers to tackle the stray dog menace on campuses, several schools have already forgotten about the rule. The order, issued by the school education department on Dec 9 last year, came in the wake of the Supreme Court’s directives to remove stray dogs from educational institutions, hospitals and public places. The education department had asked school heads to appoint a teacher-in-charge to prevent stray dogs on campus.TOI contacted several schools, including the Govt Model School in Nandanam, Chennai Middle School in Royapuram, Govt High School in Kotturpuram, Chennai Higher Secondary School in Thiruvanmiyur, and the boys’ school in Saidapet. None of these schools have appointed nodal officers to tackle the issue, and their notice boards did not display details regarding the position, as mandated by the order.“Discussions on stray dog issues don’t feature in parent-teacher meetings. Even teachers are not willing to take up nodal in-charge roles, resulting in the burden shifting to headmasters,” said a school head of a govt school on ECR, who has appointed himself as the nodal-incharge. Private school staff said the stray dog menace was minimal on campus. “At our school, the security personnel chase away stray animals on the campus,” a teacher at KSN Higher Secondary school said.Chennai chief education officer M Kabir said he would follow up on the issue and enforce periodic checks. Educationists called for a reform in the approach, urging the govt to appoint designated officers to the role. “There must be a clear demarcation between teaching and non-teaching staff. No teacher takes up the role,” said S Arumainathan, TN students’ parents welfare association.
