Live
- TTD closes Akasaganga, Papavinasam roads
- High costs, limited results: Drone mist-spraying pilot project faces setback
- Poster war on as parties compete for voter attention
- Many dams, tanks filled as rains batter Tirupati dist
- Mayawati, Akhilesh condemn damage to Constitution replica
- Mann slams Centre over ‘one nation, one election’
- Techie suicide case: Mother-in-law flees Jaunpur home
- State government to Supreme Court: New guidelines on how to apply anti-gangster law in UP
- CM Chandrababu to unveil Vision 2047 document today in Vijayawada, traffic restrictions imposed
- State-level LIMES-2k24 inaugurated
This ZPHS needs urgent attention
We often see political representatives breaking coconuts and performing bhoomi pujas during foundation stone laying ceremonies for constructing schools, hospitals and other public buildings.
Jogipet (Medak): We often see political representatives breaking coconuts and performing bhoomi pujas during foundation stone laying ceremonies for constructing schools, hospitals and other public buildings.
Nobody knows how long the works may take to finish. Sometimes they just get abandoned. One such move 9 years ago has left the entire government schooling system in Jogipet village of Andole mandal in difficult times.
When C Damodara Raja Narasimha was the minister for primary education in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, in 2007, he suddenly decided to transform the ZPHS boys’ school of Jogipet into a school which would go on to become a model for the district.
The 25 class rooms which were previously standing strong were demolished and foundation stone was laid. Work started.
After laying slabs on two floors, the contractors abandoned the work, citing shortage of funds. By then, Rs 3 crore was spent on the project. It has been in the unfinished state that ever since.
The abandoned structure has wild growth all round it. It has become a hideout for men to drink during the day. According to locals, it has become a ‘red light’ during nights and otherwise also it is being used as a free Sulabh complex by the citizens.
There were a few rooms constructed just before the demolition. They are lying vacant but locked. Children, after the demolition of the old school were sent to the primary school, where they have been crammed into 12 rooms meant for primary school children.
The primary school is currently accommodating 1600 children combining primary school and high school boys. There were 1100 high school boys enrolled in 2007, now reduced to just 600.
The teachers themselves mobilised funds to build additional rooms for the primary school children a few years ago, but when it rains, water seeps through the cracks of the roofs made of asbestos sheets.
The worst affected by this adjustment is the ZPHS girls’ school, which lies close to the primary school. The girls’ school building which was built in 1959, is quite congested with dark rooms and no ventilation.
The girls’ school was able to get 7 rooms sanctioned by Rashtriya Madhyamika Shiksha Abhiyaan. As there was not enough space in the girls’ school premises, the rooms were constructed on the primary school premises in 2010.
Those rooms are now being used to accommodate high school boys. There are 465 girls currently enrolled in the girls’ school, adjusting to the circumstances.
A couple of weeks ago, Andole MLA Babu Mohan had stated during a Haritha Haram programme in Jogipet, that Rs 1.70 Crore was sanctioned to complete the construction of ZPHS boys’ school building. He also stated that tenders would be called for soon.
But people in Jogipet have lost trust in contractors and political representatives and are suspicious, as they fear that misutilisation of funds like in the past may leave the school building abandoned once again, with children left to adjust with all the inconvenience created these years.
Most importantly, it is not just the ZPHS boys’ school which needs infrastructure, but also the girls and primary schools need structural upgrades immediately, say teachers of all these schools.
By: Vivek Bhoomi
