Hyderabad: Some students at the Boys' School for the Visually Challenged have been subjected to sodomy by older students, as per a complaint.
A functionary of a voluntary organisation said after a visit of the school, "The minors were scared and did not speak. Later they started opening up about the abuse. These older students are very stubborn. We had to literally hit them in a bid to educate them on this. Many such instances occurred before the Covid pandemic."
The warden in this Old City school remains in the premises from 10am to 3pm but lives 30km away. On Thursday, only one out of three students had study materials with them. This was despite the fact that books in Braille cannot be shared by two or more students at the same time.
There are hardly any facilities at the school. While there are no cleaners, helpers on the job roll, two cleaners have been arranged by an NGO for the Malakpet School for Girls that has 75 students. There are no cleaners at the Old City School for Boys.
The Old City School used to function only on the ground floor where around 10 students were forced to eat, sleep and study in a compact classroom that can accommodate no more than five students. Before an inspection was done on Thursday, the school management cleaned up the first floor and stuffed more benches in the classroom.
The beds that are allotted for students do not have bed-sheets and pillows. The classrooms were set on the first floor and two or three sleeping rooms are on the ground floor.
The washrooms are in a state of disrepair with students having to walk through a pile of trash to access them. Some of the washrooms have no doors.
