Blind school in Nalgonda set for dark days ahead

Nalgonda: The Development and Welfare of the Blind (DWAB) School has always brought accolades to Chokka Rao, a retired government teacher and founder of DWAB as well as to the district. The school that was started in 1986 has students donning several prominent roles in society and as many as 40 of them are in government jobs. Some of them were also selected for Group II and Group IV posts.

Today however, the school is battling a financial crunch and Chokka Rao with a debt of over Rs 2 lakh is fighting against all odds to keep the school going. The Central government funds for NGOs stopped for the last two years and meeting the expenses daily is becoming difficult, says Chokka Rao.
Presently there are 120 students and it costs about Rs 100 per student per day for food, studies and other expenses. The boarding and lodging is free. Chokka Rao says “If the State government takes over the school I would be a relieved man.”

Funds from the Police Department personnel amounting to Rs 2,500 per month and Rs 65,000 from the 12th battalion, apart from individuals are not enough to meet the expenses.So far 16 batches of Class X students passed with 100% results. Speaking to Hans India, alumni of DWAB Naresh and Raju who are now working as Andhra bank Assistant managers said though they are from rural area and economically poor family, the DWAB helped them to compete with normal people and they successfully completed their school education.

Later, they did their Intermediate and graduation from a private college in Nalgonda and could get a seat in PG in Hyderabad Central University and were now working with Andhra Bank.G Usha of Khammam district and G Suribabu of East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh who are working as teachers in ZPH schools said that Nalgonda blind school was a ray of hope to visually challenged students. They urged the State government to come to the rescue of the DWAB.