Kumbakonam fire: Greed for grants-in-aid

The Sri Krishna Primary School at Kumbakonam, where a devastating fire claimed 90 lives last week, had moved English-medium students from the ground floor of the school building to the Tamil-medium classes on the upper floors to fulfil a condition to claim government aid.

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The second floor was one of the worst affected by the fire.

According to information available, English-medium students were moved to the second floor just hours before an inspection visit by an education officer.

As per the norms, the teacher-student ratio should be 1:40 in Tamil-medium section of a private school if it claims grants-in-aid from the government.

As the strength of Tamil medium in the school was low, English-medium students were asked to change their uniform and move to the second floor, an education officer at Pudukottai said.

The fire struck even as the school authorities awaited the arrival the education officer's arrival.

Several parents have alleged it was a normal practice in the school to move students from English medium to Tamil medium before inspections.