Telangana stands at the top in the country in achieving the target of constructing toilets in government schools.
Kadiyam Srihari, Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister, said 11,700 toilets were constructed this year while another 7,127 that were dysfunctional were repaired, thus achieving the target set. The government has spent around Rs.183 crore for this purpose.
About 70 per cent of these toilets have been connected with water facility and the work on the remaining ones is on.
The Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have also chipped in constructing some of them while some corporates have also constructed from their own funds under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
Mr. Srihari revealed the government is starting five model schools this year, taking the total number of such schools in the State to 182, while most of these will have attached hostels for girl students.
The five new schools will start in Shankarpally and Shabad in Ranga Reddy district, Mancheriyal and Narnur in Adilabad district and Kodimyala in Karimnagar district.
The notification is already out and the process of admissions is on, he said. The schools will be formally launched during the Gram Jyothi programme launched by the Telangana Government from August 17 to 24.
Girls’ hostels are a part of the model school scheme and so far, 102 hostels have been completed. Each hostel will accommodate 100 students with four each in 25 rooms. Necessary infrastructure is created for these schools while effort is on to create hostel facility for all the 182 schools functioning. The Central government has sanctioned 192 model schools for Telangana. The model school concept was launched in 2010-11 with an aim to start English medium schools in backward mandals to ensure that rural students get the benefit of studying in English medium from 6{+t}{+h}to 12{+t}{+h}.
Curriculum
The schools are supposed to have infrastructure and facilities equal to Kendriya Vidyalayas and with stipulations on pupil-teacher ratio, ICT usage, relevant curriculum and emphasis on output and outcome. Sports, recreation and outdoor activities will be part of the curriculum. One of the key components of the model schools is that the teacher-student ratio should not exceed 1:25.
Fee panel formed
The fleecing of parents by private schools in Hyderabad and other parts of the State has been noticed by the Government and it has formed a committee to look into these issues.
The report would be given soon and the government will then come out with a policy addressing the issues.
Mr. Srihari said that he was in know of the recent media reports and the issues raised by some parents’ associations highlighting the high fee charged by schools. The parents have charged that the government is not reacting while the schools are increasing fee every year without valid reasons even as they are collecting capitation fee running into lakhs.
Parents had alleged that collections in some schools were running into crores and this commercialisation of education and exploitation must stop with the intervention of the government. The earlier committees set up to contain this fleecing and regulate the fee had become dysfunctional while some of their decisions were challenged in the courts.
The Minister categorically ruled out conducting the District Selection Committee (DSC) exam this year stating that the process of rationalisation is on and the government needs some time to understand the number of vacancies in schools and their need. The DSC is conducted to recruit teachers in government schools.
In the recent rationalisation process, the government has found surplus teachers in some districts while other districts need teachers in critical courses. Moreover, there is emphasis on English and Sciences and efforts are being made to estimate the exact need of these teachers.
The government feels there is a need for more school assistants than the Secondary Grade Teachers (SGT) across the State. All these factors have led to government to believe that the DSC can be given once a clear picture emerges, the Minister felt.
