At a time when the government is spending crores on the promotion of child education, Shaheen Nagar and its surroundings on the RGIA Airport Road are bereft of high schools, having to remain content with primary schools.
The area covers a population of about one lakh and has only four government schools, which includes an upper primary school. Cashing in on the opportunity, more than 70 private schools have come up in Errakunta, Shaheen Nagar, Sadathnagar, Mamidpally and Pahadishareef.
In bad shape
And what is more, these government schools are definitely not in the best of shape. Teachers at the Mandal Praja Parishad School (MPPS), Errakunta, have to conduct five classes in a single room, with two other rooms awaiting restoration for last many years. The school also lacks toilets, drinking water and power facilities.
The MPPS at Quba Colony is situated in an isolated area in the midst of hillocks and lacks the provision of drinking water.
“With water facilities absent, children go home on the pretext of drinking water but do not come back for the day,” says a teacher at the school.
MPPS Shaheen Nagar is housed in a double-storied building, on peak of a hillock. The school has also seen no upgrades since its inception nearly a decade ago. The situation is no different at the only upper primary school at Pahadeshareef.
There is widespread demand for high schools in the area. Currently, children are forced to attend far-off government schools, enrol at private schools or simply drop out.
Land issue
Social activist Syed Ansari says, “We have time and again represented the matter to the authorities but they fail to redress the issue.”
Parents say each time they bring it to the notice of the public representatives, they are asked to identify government land for the purpose.
“Instead of clamouring for government land, authorities should hire some private buildings and run schools. They cannot deprive children of education in the name of lack of land,” says Ahmed Khan, a local leader from Quba Colony. Interestingly, the areas fall under Maheshwaram Assembly constituency represented by the Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy.
