Hyderabad: Government schools in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits have been posing a grave threat to students while the administrative buildings in the area are in a dilapidated condition with the ceilings on the verge of collapsing anytime.
In a ground report prepared by Sangareddy district education office, it was observed that not only is the building filled with wall seepage, but more than 50 per cent of electricity has been cut not only in the district education office but in schools as well. This was also confirmed by the officials present.
“We have no choice but to work in this office despite facing difficulties, '' said the district education officer (DEO), Nampally, Rajesh. “There are no facilities at the office, the walls are filled with cracks, power supply is limited, fans are not working, salaries are delayed by at least 12-15 days and many pending bills are yet to be cleared by the government. Despite several requests made to the government to reconstruct or renovate the DO office, no action has been taken,” said Vijaya, deputy DEO, Sangareddy district.
These apart there are numerous issues in the districts in GHMC area. 20,000 additional admissions have been recorded in government schools as the private schools are forcing students to pay ees for the complete academic year. Also, when questioned about the absence of ayas or cleaners, the officials clearly said that there is nothing they can do about it and the government is responsible for the same.
The officials also agreed that there is a huge shortage of regular teachers in government schools and that recruitment needs to be done before the next academic year begins due to additional admissions. “There are approximately 5,000 teachers for over 1.20 lakh students. Regular teachers have not been recruited since 2017,” said Laxma Reddy, a government teacher at Sangareddy.
According to officials, regular medical camps have been set up in schools and facilities like benches and chairs are provided in nearly 1,260 government schools in the district. However, the government teachers have said that only a few schools are provided with benches or chairs.
“Even during summer, no drinking water is being provided. Mid-day meals taste worse and students are skipping their meals,” said Reddy. He added that the student dropout rate after schools reopened is at five per cent.
