The Class 10 students of Haripad Government Higher Secondary School deal with an elephant in the room, more specifically, the one next door at the Sree Subrahmanya Swami Temple. It keeps them off their classes, messes with their attendance and has forced them to launch protests.

Recently, the students gathered in front of the office of the Travancore Devaswom Deputy Commissioner to protest the stench from the unbathed animal and its dung, which has accumulated into a huge pile. The students feel sick during the class and now they demand a permanent solution.

The jumbo problem began about 2 years ago, when the elephant, which showed signs of aggression, was brought to the property belonging to the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), right beside the school, to be tamed. “The elephant had caused an accident which resulted in a death, and since then they have not been able to find a mahout for it,” Pradeep, the PTA president, told Onmanorama. “Since then the animal has been poorly maintained, rarely bathed, and its dung seldom cleared from the area adjacent to the school building,” he said.

For the school next door, this caused an unprecedented crisis when the afternoon breeze brings the stench into a classroom already packed with about 30 students who are trying to beat the midday heat. “As it is, it is hot and steamy, and because of the smell we can’t even open the windows,” Anet Anna Mathew, a student of Class 10 E who led the protests, told Onmanorama.

According to Anet, the students dread coming to school every morning, where they develop headaches, dizziness and nausea among a plethora of other symptoms, not to mention the olfactory discomfort. To her, this has had a noticeable impact on their academic performance as well. “We can’t pay attention in class because of the suffocating smell,” she said.

Headmistress Chandrika says there is a larger academic crisis looms underneath. “It’s their SSLC exams that are approaching. They need at least 80% attendance even to be eligible to attempt it,” she said. “The students frequently take leave, reasonably so, but their attendance is running low because of it,” she added.

Even the students who make it to school in the morning don’t always get through the day. “Some even request that their parents be called to pick them up from school in the afternoon because they cannot bear the smell or the headache and nausea it causes,” she said.

According to the parents, teachers and vice-chairman of the Haripad Municipality, the group had tried everything from requests directly to the TDB next door to a letter to the district collector, but to no avail. Recently, they also sent a letter to Health and Devaswom Minister K Muraleedharan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who is also the MLA of the constituency, hoping for change.

In fact, things got so bad that several parents collectively decided to pull the students out of school. “About 15 parents came forward requesting TC because the smell had begun disrupting the studies, hoping to enrol the students elsewhere,” Pradeep said. “That’s when we decided to press for a faster resolution,” he said.

“So we decided to act more urgently, organising the protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office,” the parent said. He added that the newly appointed Deputy Commissioner did not have much of a clue about the issue but guaranteed he would look into it within a week.

According to Anilmitra, the vice-chairman of the Haripad Municipality and a parent, although the dung was transported from the region soon after, it did little to provide a long-term solution.

However, the Devaswom has denied that the school had initiated any sort of correspondence on the matter. According to a source within the TDB, the issue came up in the last few weeks, and the school had not approached them directly. “If we knew that the elephant’s presence was causing any issues, we would have done something about it,” the source said.

The TDB also had its own reasoning for keeping the animal in captivity. “Last August, the poor handling of the animal by its mahouts had resulted in a death and a grave injury. So we need to make sure that the animal is in sound condition before it is moved to ensure that it does not cause any issues to anyone,” the source said. “Just like the issues faced by the students, we are also concerned about public safety,” he added.

According to the source, the board concluded the appointment process of a new mahout on Friday, who may take charge as early as Monday. “The board is yet to sign off on the order appointing the mahout. It will be completed in the coming days. Once that is done, he may take charge as soon as Monday," he said. "Then the animal can be moved in about two weeks, ensuring compliance with the procedures for moving the animal and ensuring compatibility with the mahout,” he added.