Carrying heavy school bags, lunch boxes and water bottles, schoolchildren stepped into the classrooms on Thursday albeit perfunctorily.
Areas like Moghalrajpuram, Satyanaranapuram, Ashoknagar and Eluru Road teemed with children as parents dropped their wards at schools on the first day after a long summer holiday break. A word of caution by district Collector M. Raghunandana Rao that heat wave conditions were likely to hold sway on June 12 and 13 in the district prompted a few school managements to postpone the reopening date to June 16.
“For most parents, commencement of a new academic year means additional expenditure. Many school managements had sold books, stationery and even uniforms on their premises a week before commencement of schools and parents had to buy shoes and bags from different outlets,” says Janardhana Rao, a parent.
“This is a common practice every year and yet the Education Department does not take any action against the erring school managements. In June, our monthly budget goes for a toss as managements charge exorbitant prices for books and uniforms. There is no option but to buy,” fumed Mr. Rao.
District Education Officer D. Devanand Reddy claims that there are no complaints from parents about sale of books and uniforms in schools. “We have deployed special teams to crack on such managements but till date no cases have been booked,” says Mr. Reddy.
In addition to this, transportation fee is also being increased by many school managements and auto drivers. Generally, schools collect Rs.750 to Rs.850 as bus transportation fee every month per student and auto drivers charge about Rs.400 to Rs.475, depending on the distance between school and the students’ residence.
“Diesel costs have gone up and there is a need to increase the monthly fare by at least 10 per cent,” says Somayajulu, an auto driver.
