Telangana to improve facilities in govt schools across Hyderabad

The Telangana government has taken up mapping of infrastructure availability in government-run schools, junior colleges, polytechnics and degree colleges across the state with a view to revamp the functioning of these educational institutions by providing the required infrastructure. At the initiative of deputy chief minister (education) Kadiyam Srihari, an action plan is being prepared to take up infrastructure works on a war-footing in the state capital-Hyderabad. Hyderabad district boasts of 688 government schools, including 500 primary schools, 7 upper primary schools and 181 high schools. These schools account for total enrolment of 1,23,475 students, including 74,691 at primary level, 1,430 at upper primary and 47,354 at high school level. The number of Urdu medium schools is 220, including 184 primary, 3 upper primary and 33 high schools. The total enrolment of Urdu medium schools in Hyderabad comes to 32,108 with 25,515 students at primary, 663 at upper primary and 5,930 at high school level. These 688 government schools are spread across 15 assembly constituencies of Hyderabad district, including Secunderabad cantonment. The infrastructure mapping exercise covers 14 parameters. The initiative aims at providing infrastructure such as new school buildings, toilets, running water facility, drinking water through RO (reverse osmosis) plants, compound wall, electricity, science lab, computer lab and library facility, dual desks, biometric system and CC (closed circuit) cameras at the government schools, including Urdu medium schools. Statistics on availability of different types of infrastructure in the government schools show the sorry state of affairs in these schools. There is a huge gap between the requirement and availability of these facilities. As many as 159 government schools do not have their own buildings. Also, 167 schools do not have toilet facility, 135 lack running water facility, 154 do not have drinking water, 89 have no electricity and 132 schools have no compound walls. Not a single school has biometric system of attendance, or CC cameras or an RO plant. Most schools do not even have adequate number of dual desks. Worse still, out of the 181 high schools, 145 don't have science labs, 161 lack computer labs and 17 do not have library facility. Worse still, the assembly-wise data shows big variations in the availability of various types of infrastructure in the government schools. In fact, the gap between the requirement and availability of infrastructure is more pronounced in the government schools in the southern and western parts of Hyderabad, which have sizeable minority and Urdu-speaking population, compared to other areas. The 7 assembly segments-Bahadurpura, Chandrayangutta, Karwan, Malakpet, Nampally, Charminar and Yakutpura-have 388 government schools with 69,643 students. They need a massive outlay of Rs 109.14 crore for provision of the required infrastructure. On the other hand, the 300 schools in the remaining 8 assembly constituencies, with 53,832 students, require funds amounting to Rs 47.44 crore. Overall, the required outlay for all the 688 schools comes to Rs. 156.58 crore. The Urdu medium schools in all the 15 assembly segments are in bad shape. These 220 schools need Rs 69.06 crore for filling up infrastructural gaps. As many as 117 Urdu medium schools are functioning in rented or dilapidated buildings. They have shortage of 179 classrooms. 39 schools have no toilets and 32 have no running water, 53 lack drinking water and 30 do not have electricity. Again, 66 of these schools have no compound walls. Only 3 out of 33 Urdu medium high schools have integrated science lab. None of these high schools have computer labs. Six do not have libraries. As against requirement of 12,395 double desks for school children, these schools have only 4,958 leaving a gap of 7,437 double desks. Bio-metric system, CC cameras and RO plants are non-existent in these schools. In a bid to bridge these gaps and provide the required infrastructure, Kadiyam Srihari has mooted mobilising funds to the tune of Rs 100 crore in the current financial year. He has sought Rs one crore from the Rs three crore constituency development programme (CDP) funds of each of the 15 city MLAs and 10 MLCs. This will work out to Rs 25 crore. The balance Rs 75 crore would be earmarked from the funds of the central and state schemes implemented by school education department and from the special development fund proposed in the state budget. The action plans are to be finalised in consultation with legislators. Works are expected to commence after the reopening of schools. (The author is an MLC and a journalist)