GVMC schools fail student test

Visakhapatnam: Despite having qualified teachers and the requisite basic infrastructure, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) schools are failing to attract students every academic year. Instead, most parents are opting for private schools for their wards which don't have such facilities and also collect hefty sums in the form of fees. After the recent shut down of over 80 private schools in the city by the district education department on the grounds that they were unrecognised, unsafe or for hiking fees, the fate of nearly 5,000 students are hanging in balance at present. Yet, they are not making any moves to join the GVMC schools.GVMC has a total of 149 schools including 118 primary schools, four upper primary and 27 high schools within its limits including Bheemili and Anakapalli zones. A total of 895 teachers with professional degrees teach in these schools. This apart, GVMC every year develops infrastructure with donations under Sweekaram programme (school adoption and supporting programme) also. Last academic year, GVMC collected Rs 1.2 crore as donations under the programme and improved infrastructures like toilets, compound walls, buildings and provisions such as benches in some schools.All GVMC schools can accommodate nearly 45,000 students in an academic year. Yet, in the academic year 2015-16, only 20,725 students enrolled in these schools. This year, the GVMC has set a target of admitting 22,000 students, which is less than 50% of the total capacity.GVMC sources as well as experts in the field of school education and psychologists attribute the gap to various reasons including lack of English medium teaching in all the schools, insecurity among parents about the future of their wards studying in GVMC schools and a prevailing prejudice about the students going to these schools who mostly hail from weaker sections of the society.Narava Prakasa Rao, retired vice-principal of Mrs AVN College and founder secretary of Bala Vikas Foundation, said parents opt for private schools as they provide special care for children, safety, uniform maintenance, discipline and English as medium of education. Moreover, private school managements also ensure regular parent-teacher meeting. GVMC schools do not provide individual attention to students by teachers. Besides, there is no safety as the compound walls are broken, no security guards, no parents meeting, no proper authority to lead the teachers and no competitive spirit among the teachers, Prakasa Rao said.He suggested that GVMC commissioner Pravin Kumar act as a head of all the schools and set a proper monitoring mechanism by frequently checking the progress of teachers as well as students.However, a GVMC school teacher at Kancharapalem said, "A teacher can never be a reason behind the failure of GVMC schools to attract students. GVMC schools will not improve until the government takes sincere efforts. The government including its ministers are pointing out lapses in the system, but not interested in correcting them. Nearly 80% of the students who join GVMC schools are the children of lower-income groups," the teacher said.GVMC deputy educational officer C Usha Rani said the main reason behind the low turnout is lack of English medium. "The government already proposed to introduce English in the municipal schools. The decision is under process," Usha Rani told TOI.