‘Residential school principals liable for inmates’ ill health’

Visakhapatnam: Collector N Yuvaraj, who convened a meeting with the principals of all residential schools in the district, including BC Welfare, Andhra Preadesh Residential Schools, Tribal Welfare Residential Schools and Andhra Pradesh Residential Educational Society here on Wednesday, cautioned that principals are liable if the inmates suffer from fever or any type of ill health.

He enquired about the problems from the principals and assured that he would release funds for taking up repair works if necessary. The toilets in all residential schools should be maintained properly and in case of any lapses in the construction of toilets, action will be taken against engineers concerned, he warned.

Asking the participants to bring their problems to the notice of district administration, he asked them to mainly focus on cleanliness, sanitation, protected drinking water and the drainage system in all hostels. At one stage, he irked with the Meghadrigedda Residential School principal for having failed to respond even when the drinking water was contaminated in the hostel recently. He asked to see that Meghadrigedda drain water must go to the GVMC drainage and to construct a sump for drinking water. He also asked the medical officers and the ANMs to visit the hostels regularly for health check-ups.

Yuvaraj informed that a committee will be set up to monitor all residential schools with the Collector as the president, the Additional Joint Collector as the vice- president and all the principals as the members. The committee will meet monthly to review the facilities available at all the residential schools.

Additional Joint Collector D V Reddy, Deputy Director of Social Welfare Ramana Murty, Chief Planning Officer Rama Sastry, BC Welfare Officer Nageswara Rao and Regional Officer of Social Welfare Chandravathi were also present at the meeting.