New school buildings worry students

HYDERABAD: Several students of the Government High School, Himayatnagar, in the city turned their back on their school, which reopened on June 12. The reason: the school has been shifted to a new building at Amberpet from its rented premises located in a small lane near the Kachiguda crossroad.
"My son came home almost immediately after I sent him to the school on the first day.He said the school was moved out. We live in the lane next to the school and I cannot possibly send my 11-year-old all the way to Amberpet. The teachers said I should take TC and look for another school," lamented P Kamala.
The 180 students of the 60-year-old school have two options—to join the government school at Kachiguda or the St Peter's Government School, which has also been shifted to a new building at Hyderguda. Then there is always the choice of a private school in the same lane, though an expensive proposition.
The school's new premises near the Central Police Lines, Amberpet, is being built with aid from the constituency development fund of MLA Kishan Reddy, who wants an English medium government school.
With the construction being incomplete, two teachers sit in the middle of building material and take admissions from new students. The construction may be completed in another week's time and the teachers are hoping to start the academic year by July 1. The disappointing thing is the building plan has not even taken into account the need for toilets.
This is not the sad tale of only one school. Five schools have been shifted to new premises overnight. The Government Boys High School, Bazarghat, Nampally, has been shifted to a far away place—Borabanda. Deputy district educational officer K Malla Reddy says the strength of the school is deteriorating and there is a demand for an English medium government school at Borabanda. So about 100 students, all from nearby slums or lower income colonies, are forced to either travel all the way to Borabanda or take TC and look for admissions elsewhere.
Malla Reddy said that the school authorities had given the parents details of all the nearby schools where the children could be admitted. Nonetheless, all of them started the new academic year without a school to go to.
The building at Borabanda is also incomplete. The teachers who have objected to the shifting of the school as they, too, have to travel a long distance from their homes, finally relented.