Hyderabad, October 11: Though the collectors of flood-affected districts in the State had announced reopening of government schools from October 12, the situation in the areas may not allow it.
“We are yet to come to terms with the situation and are totally shocked at the things the way they have gone in the past few days,’’ says P Laxmi, a primary school teacher at Panchalingala in Kurnool district.
Md Khaleel, a resident of Gadwal in Mahaboobnagar district helping an NGO in the distribution of clothes, says his son Md Bahdur Pasha is studying SSC in the local government school and he has lost his school books and clothes along with other valuables of their family.
Demanding that the government arrange free education with hostel facility for the school-going children in the flood-ravaged areas, Khaleel says that the rain gods and floods have taken away every thing from them and that they are looking for government’s help and support.
“Several villages still remain inundated and people are living in relief camps,’’ says Auto Suri, a resident of Gadwal. The government should work to bring the situation to normalcy before reopening the schools, says Suri, whose children are studying at a local government school.
Raising doubts over the reopening of the schools in the area, Vandana, a primary school teacher at Erukacheru in Kurnool, says that the floods have washed away the infrastructure and the registers in most of the schools in the district and it will be difficult to see the schools function in a normal manner.
Expressing concern at the plight of people, Kurnool District Education Officer M Devadas, however, asserts that schools will be reopened on October 12. The situation will be reviewed after receiving reports from the principals of the schools concerned.
Explaining the plight of their life after the floods, K Muralikrishna of Malapadu village in Mahaboobnagar district, a Class IX student of local government school, says: “We have lost the books and clothes. The case is the same with students in neighbouring villages.’’ His father says it is difficult to send the children to school at this stage, unless the government provides food, books and clothes to them.
Sailaja, the deputy educational officer of Kurnool division, says officials may announce extension of holidays for schools in the worst-affected areas after receiving reports from headmasters. But the final decision will be made by the district collector, she hastens to add.
Though principal secretary (school education) Poonam Malakondaiah has announced free distribution of books to the children in flood-affected areas, it is a question of time, remarks a parent.
–Agencies–