Tirunelveli district government school students participate in ‘gram sabha’ meetings to raise their schools’ demands - The HinduPublished - October 03, 2026 05:56 pm IST - TIRUNELVELIA student of Thevarkulam Government High School reading out the facilities to be created in her school during the gram sabha meeting held on Friday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTThe gram sabha meetings organised in good number of village panchayats of the district on Friday to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi had unusual participants – students of government higher secondary schools – who raised demands of their schools to get it fulfilled.Chief Educational Officer Sivakumar, who ideated this path-breaking initiative along with District Collector Anand Mohan, said this maiden attempt was made to sensitise the students of government schools to understand the basics of democracy, administration, functioning and the powers of local bodies, handling of public money with utmost transparency, leadership quality, self discipline, accountability etc.“Since the children are aware of the problems and challenges that hamper the development of their schools, we encouraged them to compile it and submit the same to the panchayat president concerned during the ‘ gram sabha’ meetings. After discussing these issues with the teachers and the heads of their schools and the office-bearers of ‘Mahizh Mutram’ committee of every school prepared the demands, which was submitted with the village panchayat presidents during the ‘gram sabha’ meeting held on Friday,” Mr. Sivakumar said.Mr. Anand Mohan has instructed the heads of village panchayats to consider positively the genuine demands of the children and forward it to the departments concerned for further action. Since the Collector has already received a copy of the demands from the students, he is personally watching the follow-up action.When the ‘gram sabha’ meetings discussed the development works implemented so far, the new works to be executed in the coming days and the expenditure incurred, the accounts submitted for this expenditure, the students closely followed the discussions and then submitted their list of demands.The children were given opportunities in these ‘gram sabha’ meetings to speak about their demands and these ‘young leaders’ explained in detail with all clarity about their requests.“Now, our children have understood the functioning of a village panchayat and ways of fulfilling the demands of schools through the local body. It is a great opportunity extended to us by the District Collector and the Chief Educational Officer to our children,” said Franklin Lourdhu Selvarani, headmistress of Government High School, Thevarkulam.Most of the children have urged the local bodies to ensure sufficient drinking water supply, toilet facility, compound walls around their schools and clearing of the thorny bushes near their schools to create spacious playgrounds.Published - October 03, 2026 05:56 pm ISTSign in to unlock member-only benefits!Access 10 free stories every monthSave stories to read laterAccess to comment on every storySign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single clickGet notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products${ ind + 1 } ${ device }Last active - ${ la }