HYDERABAD: Amid the ongoing row over the sudden and steep hike in school fees, parents have alleged that basic amenities, like washrooms and pantries, are not clean and in working condition in several top schools.
These complaints have been made against state-run government schools, Centre-aided institutions, like Kendriya Vidyalaya, and even corporate schools.
Parents said these institutions are collecting huge sums in fees but they refuse to act on complaints. "I cannot believe I am (forced) to ask for things as fundamental as clean washrooms and (functioning) fans. Forget cleanliness, there's no proper running water facility in the bathrooms,” said Kiran Miryala, parent of a student studying in a corporate school at SR Nagar.
A student’s guardian, Chaitanya Pingali, was appalled when she found that a Kendriya Vidyalaya did not provide clean drinking water to its students. "Several requests followed by complaints about cleaning washrooms on a regular basis fell on deaf ears," said a group of students at the school.
Syed Ahsan whose children go to an Urdu medium government school in the Old City, wrote to the government demanding better facilities for boys to relieve themselves. "Just because boys can stand and urinate does not mean, they deserve no empathy. Even the staff do not have clean washrooms to answer nature's call."
A few weeks ago, students were made to wash the bathrooms at a primary school in Kailashnagar, Quthbullapur, Medchal-Malkajgiri district.
"The school, with no remorse, said that the government couldn't provide for sanitation workers so they made the students do it. If instilling skills was on their mind, as many claimed, why haven't the teachers led by example," asked Pranay M., an activist.
Srikanth Junfe, whose daughter studies and lives in the hostel of a gurukul school in Shamirpet, alleged that the water they are given to drink tasted salty and the washrooms were unfit for use.
The drains in the bathrooms of a school in Abids were found to be overflowing by a parent, Sami Ahmed, when he checked them a week ago. "They are not cleaned every day and do not even have a mug with a bucket. My daughter who goes to the girl's school said the condition was the same," he said.
When asked, the school said that the drains overflow because of several establishments in the area, including a hotel, and that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation could not do anything about it.
