Villagers search roads to forestall closure of college with one scholar at Erode hamlet

With migration persevering with unabated as a result of absence of a motorable highway and electrical energy, the Panchayat Union Middle School at Malliamman Durgham, a distant hamlet deep contained in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) within the Kadambur Hills, is dealing with the specter of closure, because it at present has just one scholar, a Class IV boy, and a trainer.

A report titled ‘As households migrate, Erode hamlet with out roads or energy left with just one scholar,’ was printed in The Hindu dated July 22, 2025. Following this, schooling division officers, together with two Block Educational Officers from Gobichettipalayam and 6 members from the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) visited the village on Thursday (July 24).

Plea to residents

After an arduous journey in a pickup van via steep, rocky gradients for two-and-a-half hours, they reached the distant hamlet and met the residents. The group urged residents to confess their kids within the faculty to forestall its closure.

However, the villagers reiterated their long-standing demand for a motorable highway, stating that with out it, most households had been compelled emigrate to the plains in the hunt for higher livelihood and academic alternatives.

According to the officers, though there are greater than 80 homes within the village, lesser than 30 households at present reside there, with most of them aged over 45 years. Of the 159 households that initially lived within the hamlet, practically two-thirds have moved out.

Residents mentioned they’ve been demanding a highway for over 30 years, as the dearth of connectivity severely hampers entry to medical care, ration provides and every day necessities. Highlighting their hardship, they mentioned the lack to journey is forcing households to relocate.

The village additionally stays off the facility grid, with no electrical energy, leaving the residents in darkness. While officers proceed to push for native faculty enrolment, the villagers keep that highway connectivity have to be made first if the neighborhood is to outlive and develop. The officers who visited them assured to take up the matter with the District Collector for vital motion to facilitate highway entry.