The motorised boat slices through the Pulicat lagoon, forming foamy slipstreams. Its 150 occupants are oblivious to the engaging sight and the dangers of riding on an overcrowded boat on windswept backwaters. Except for the boatman, they are school-going children. This isn’t an excursion away from school, but a daily commute towards it. These children of Irrukam, a spit of earth on the backwaters of the Bay of Bengal, take a dangerous boat ride every day to Tamil-medium schools at Arambakkam and Obasamudram in Gummudipoondi taluk of Tiruvallur district. Irrukam, a 7-sq.km island in Andhra Pradesh, does not offer Tamil-medium education, despite Tamil also being the language of the hearth and the marketplace. The children are not wearing life-jackets, which the Tiruvallur administration had issued to them three years ago. The ride isn’t safe despite the safety measures. The steel railings and wooden racks are there as on any passenger boat. The smaller children sit on the racks, hemmed in protectively by their seniors, who are perched precariously on the railings. Blissfully ignorant, the children are lost in their textbooks or conversations. The boat ride takes one hour each way, and most children cram homework and book cricket into it. The 300 families of Irrukam are sustained by agriculture and fishing. As they visit coastal Tamil Nadu for the essentials of life, while include selling their catch and produce, the Andhra Pradesh government operates six motorised boats. Two of these are set aside for schoolchildren. The Tamil Nadu government pays a monthly boat allowance of Rs. 300 each to students at the elementary level. Senior students have to meet the expense themselves, ranging from Rs. 600 to Rs. 900 a month.