Government schools preferred over private post covid-19

WARANGAL:  Gone are the days during which parents used to send their children to private schools for quality education. In some villages, all students would ignore government schools within reach of their homes and head to private schools in nearby towns.

As a result, public schools in villages and towns were closed. About 105 government schools in the Warangal district have been closed since 2016 for this very reason.

However, a change is taking place in the education system post the Covid-19 pandemic. People are now favouring the state-run schools for their wards.

During the last one month after schools reopened after the pandemic induced lockdown, 17 schools in Warangal district which were previously closed due to no admissions got re-opened. Teachers appointed to these schools but working elsewhere on deputation were reassigned to their original posts.

Be it the financial situation due to the pandemic or the fees being charged by private schools even for online classes, parents find it justified to send their kids to public schools.

Meanwhile, steps are being taken to ensure that at least two teachers work in each school. Three teachers have been assigned to the school in Vanjarapally of Sangem mandal. In the remaining 16 schools, two teachers are on duty. In all, 29 teachers were appointed to the seventeen government primary schools that have reopened.

District Education Officer D. Vasanti said a few more schools apart from these 17 are likely to reopen this year.

“We are currently encouraging more students to join these schools to increase the number of students in reopened schools. We are providing them with textbooks and other essentials. Schools should usually have one teacher for every 30 students. But to enable the school to run even if one of the teachers is on leave, we assigned two teachers even when there were less than 30 students,” she said.