Opposition, ruling party on the same page

In a role reversal of sorts, it was the Opposition that took the lead in emphasising the need for launching a movement to strengthen government schools in the State.

Raising the issue of neglect of government schools and dwindling student strength despite better infrastructure and qualified teachers than that of private schools, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Mohd Ali Shabbir, said it was poor who mostly studied in the government schools.

Irregular attendance of teachers, headmasters, inadequate basic facilities, poor monitoring and lack of English medium in government schools were compelling parents to shift students to private schools though they could not afford it, he said.

“Such a situation prevailed even in the combined State, but it was time the government addressed those issues and improved strength and standards in the government schools,” said Mr. Shabbir Ali during the Question Hour.

BJP member N. Ramachandra Rao cited the recent death of a student who fell into hot ‘sambar’ and sought a separate enclosure to cook mid-day meal in schools. Congress member Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy said the Centre was granting hundreds of crores for better amenities in government schools and sought to know how many utilisation certificates were submitted under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and RUSA. MIM member Razvi suggested a separate maintenance fund for upkeep of facilities like toilets, water supply etc.

Agreeing with the view of LoP, Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Kadiam Srihari said that the government schools had hereditary defect and they had launched remedial steps to popularise the government schools and stop migration of one lakh-1.5 lakh students to private schools a year, he said.

About Rs. 60 crore was released for maintenance of facilities in all types of government schools. Of the 26,000 government schools, new toilets were constructed in 17,000 schools and Rs. 235 crore was spent on providing basic facilities. In Hyderabad district, 15 MLAs contributed Rs. 1 crore each from constituency development fund, Rs. 1 crore was sanctioned from special development fund and the government contributed Rs. 3 crore to take up works worth Rs. 5 crore to develop the government schools, he said.