This academic year (2015-16) may go down as a special year in the calendar of many schools in Krishna region, thanks to their admission records bursting at the seams.
The capital buzz has brought in an unusually large number of new admissions in schools which are lapping it up without caring much about the obligatory measures expected to be put in place to match the amplified size of the classrooms or the additional sections being added.
As the race to attract bigger chunks of the migrating families from Hyderabad escalates, rules go out of the window. Since this region is expected to witness hectic activity from June when the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is likely to spend considerable time here, many families from this region residing in Telangana districts, chose to be early birds to avoid last-minute confusion.
Sarada Anil Kumar, Principal of Akshara International School, admits to an “unusual surge in the number of pupils seeking admission in my school,” while Ch. Ramesh Babu, head of the Hindi Department in Delhi Public School, speaks of a new development wherein parents of Andhra region settled abroad, eager to send their children to schools here. But does this unremitting race have the official sanction? “So far, nobody has come to me for permission,” says Krishna District Education Officer (DEO) K. Nageswara Rao, who goes on to explain that in order to add a new section, the schools would need to enhance the existing facilities. Is there any upper limit to the number of sections a class can have or for that matter, the strength of a classroom? “There are no specifications for the number of sections that can be added to a single class. The same goes for classroom strength as well. Ideally, a single class can be expanded up to five sections while the strength could be limited to 55. But what is essential is that with the increase in sections, the facilities for students should be augmented proportionately,” says the DEO.
Flouting of norms by schools is commonplace. In the Krishna district, of the total 4,450 schools (All put together-government, municipal, aided and private), around 70 of them have been listed as unauthorised.
“Besides failing to fulfil the mandatory conditions of adequate space, playground, NOC from the Fire and the Municipal Departments, many of them could secure a lease of only 11 months against a minimum requirement of a five-year-lease pact,” says Mr. Rao.
Ideally, a single class can be expanded up to five sections while the strength could be limited to 55. But with the increase in sections, the facilities for students should be augmented proportionately
K. Nageswara Rao
District Educational Officer
