Kakinada: Wading through troubling waters of misery

Kakinada: The plight of students of PR Government Girls High School in the district is the best example of misery what the official apathy could cause to any institution.

While the school is already deprived of basic facilities, the copious rains only come to aggravate the problem being faced by students, teachers and other staff.

The girl students are the worst victims due to mingling of rainwater with drainage water.

In the event of heavy rains the whole school will be inundated with rainwater and sewage and students and teachers have to wade through the contaminated water to get in or out of the school and the locality.

While the surrounding of the high school is not good and the nearby well emits foul smell all the time, the school building is also in a pathetic condition.

The students can't play because of stink and bad surroundings. Some of the parents lodged complaints with the Kakinada Municipal Corporation for keeping the school tidy and healthy but of no avail. The officials pay no attention to their pleas. The students have also been making complaints regarding lack of facilities as well as unhygienic conditions prevailing in the school.

Students are finding it extremely difficult to take their lunch in view of untidy surroundings and they search for cleaner place on the school premises to have lunch.

Adding to their misery, there is no drinking water facility in the school. The parents have expressed their dismay over the fact that the school is close to the DEO office and the indifference of the educational authorities baffles them.

The girls have to wade through the dirty water which causing unhygienic blisters on their delicate feet. Their protest has become a cry in the wilderness.

Authorities concerned have become mere spectators in the mounting misery and woes of the girl students.

Most significant point is that girl students don't have adequate toilet facilities and two girls have to stand guard outside the toilet in order to prevent any boy coming near it.

For more than 230 girls there is only a single toilet without proper door or safety measures being adopted. They wanted a female attendant to be posted near the toilet to prevent outsiders approaching the toilet.

A casual visit to PRG Girl School would shatter the myth floated about the government's concern for the girl students.

Despite frequent media exposure and public outcry about the miserable condition of PRG Girls High School have failed to wake up officials from slumber.

There excuse is that they are waiting for the Naadu – Nedu funds to take any action and till then the girl students are put to a lot of hardships and ridicule.

Some local leaders are demanding Collector Hari Kiran to take immediate action against DEO Abraham for his apathy and negligent attitude toward PR Government Girls High School.

PR Government Girls High School HM KVV Satyanarayana told "The Hans India" that there are 230 students studying from Classes VI to X. The school was selected under the Naadu – Nedu programme but the government has not provided any funds so far.

It is a pity that the teachers themselves have to bear the expenses towards sanitary material as the government has not provided any special funds for the infrastructure facilities including sanitation facilities.

He said that under the Nadu– Nedu programme in the second phase certain funds are likely to be allotted for the developmental activities of the school. The estimation for the cost of the development is yet to be made and the process regarding estimation is being done.

The HM said that due to lack of funds, they themselves spent from their pockets to drain out the stagnated water twice or thrice and have to incur Rs 2, 500 to 3,000 each time.

Now adding insult to injury the motor is now under repair and an amount of Rs 6,000 is required for its repair. When "The Hans India" contacted the DEO S. Abraham for his comment he didn't respond.

Let us hope the government will sanction funds for school repairs and develop some facilities for students and teachers. Till then they will have to wade through the troubling water of misery every single day.