Urdu medium schools an ignored lot

• Close to two dozen schools are under construction for over 10 years
• 90 per cent of schools do not have toilets and in the few schools that have the facility, the teachers use them
• More than a dozen schools function in two shifts for want of space and furniture
• Urdu books dispatched in the month of December last year
• More than 500 posts in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts not filled since four years
• Only three private schools remain and their managements are fighting hard to keep them alive

Even as the Government of Telangana promises to provide funds and restore Urdu language to its past glory, the ground reality is far from satisfactory. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recently announced the option of Urdu as first language in Telugu medium schools. However, the state of Urdu medium schools in and around Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts is abysmal.

Four Urdu medium government schools function from a single building at the Government Primary School, Khagaziguda, Natraj Nagar near Goshamahal. At the Government High School, Jinsi Chouraha, Shaikpet, the school runs in two shifts for want of space and there is just one toilet which the teachers use leaving the 800 students in the lurch.

The Government High School, Tapachiputra is under construction for the last 10 years and every year the students are promised a new building but are accommodated in a rented building nearby. These are a few examples of the state of Urdu medium schools in Hyderabad.

Acute shortage of teachers is an issue that is plaguing the Urdu medium schools. Mohammed Kursheed Ali, president, State Urdu Teachers Association of Telangana, Ranga Reddy Unit, says, “In almost every school there is a shortage of 4-8 teachers and in Ranga Reddy alone 237 posts are to be filled.”

Even in Hyderabad district about 300 posts are lying vacant. In the DSC test conducted in 2012 for 147 posts the appointments have still not BEEN completed. Shaik Rahman, a school assistant, says, “The government is not interested in the development of the schools or why would they close down schools.”

It may be noted that in 2009, 282 schools were closed down and an assurance was given that new schools would be established close to slums and where there is a sizable Muslim population, but not a single new school was established. Asifnagar has a good population but there is no high school. Fazlur Rahman Khurram, correspondent, Dawn High School, Malakpet, says, “We have been providing Urdu as the first language for the last decade.

The decision by the Chief Minister to provide Urdu as the first language option in Telugu Medium schools should be welcomed and this move will help in keeping the language alive.” In Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts there are close to two dozen schools that are under construction for more than five years and students are made to sit in old rented buildings sometimes which do not have a proper roof.

Take for instance the Government Primary school, Paleqadeem, Jirra, which has 400 students on the roll have been accommodated in a rented building for the last eight years. There are over a dozen Urdu medium schools that are run in two shifts for lack of space. The Government Girls High School, First Lancer, runs on two shifts for the last four years.

By:T P Venu