Ongole : Future of poor students hangs in balance as govt absorbs aided staff

Ongole : The move of the government to absorb teachers and lecturers from the aided schools, junior and degree colleges is causing great inconvenience to the students, particularly from poor families. The parents and management of some institutions are requesting the government to give them a chance to make alternate arrangements.

The concept of aided schools and colleges came into the existing when the government was unable to set up the educational institutions at every place and bear the burden. So, the government provided teachers and other aids when the people came up with a place, ground and infrastructure to educate the local children.

The philanthropists donated lands and generous funds to run the schools and college with no intention of profit. That is why many government-aided educational institutions are older than the government schools and colleges in the villages and towns, and they served for generations.

After the decision of the government to absorb the aided staff, and willing to take over the aided institutions with the consent of managements is causing pain in many families like they are losing a family member.

Thumu Madhusudan, a private employee said that his father and himself, along with their cousins are students of CSR Sarma College in Ongole. After learning about the closure of the college due to the absorption of staff, he said that he feels someone is ripping his body to take away some important thing from him.

With the orders of the government, the aided teaching and non-teaching staff are happy to become government employees officially, and the managements are ready to shut down the institutions for now by issuing transfer certificates to the students.

But the big question to the parents is, where they should join their children and how to pay the hefty fees. Dr Nukathoti Ravi Kumar, a teacher in Ongole said as there is no approval for the recruitment of lecturers for decades in the 153 government-aided junior and degree colleges in the states, the standards in the colleges came down and the government utilised it as a reason.

He said that there is no government junior college or degree college nearby in many places, and questioned where those 20,000 students in the State, particularly poor girl students, should go to continue their education without any worries of fees.

In the Prakasam district, there are 143 elementary, 26 upper primary and 51 high schools working under private aided management. In them, there are 383 teachers in elementary, 129 in upper primary and 291 teachers are working in high schools.

In these schools, there are 60 single teacher schools. Apart from these, there are 8 junior and 8 degree colleges in the district. Responding to the GO MS No 50, the general manager of the Diocese of Nellore Society- Board of Education, Bishop Dr Moses D Prakasam wrote a letter to the Prakasam district DEO B Vijay Bhaskar that they are ready to surrender the aided staff at their 22 Aided Roman Catholic Mission Schools in the Prakasam district, including the teaching and non-teaching, but they are not willing to hand over the assets.

He told The Hans India that they will evaluate each of their schools based on the local conditions before making a decision on closing them permanently or continue to run as private management schools. Meanwhile, he said that they will offer necessary counselling to the students and their parents to join in any of the schools the government committee is referring to them.

A similar situation prevails in other schools as the managements are preparing to continue the schools after they surrender the staff.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bandla Ankaiah Setty, president of the management board at Bandla Bapaiah Educational Institutions in Vetapalem said that they wrote a letter to the government to consider the history and service track record of the institutions for the last 100 years and give them time for five years to implement GO MS No. 50.

He said that with the support of the founders' family, alumni, infrastructure and patrons they will prepare the staff to continue to run the institutions as a private organisation and serve the community with the not-for-profit motive for another 100 years.

Meanwhile, a parent of a student from an aided school that is ready to shut down, said that he cannot predict the decisions of the government. He said that his daughter is studying in the municipal school and will join his son too in that now.

He fears that the government would cancel all welfare scheme benefits to his family in future if his children are found studying in a private school.

He questioned that the government has changed conditions for a number of schemes in the last two years, and who knows what would be the next scheme.