HYDERABAD: Alampur police officials on Wednesday blocked a protest by Class 10 students of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Gurukul (Boys) school, Alampur mandal, Jogulamba Gadwal district.
The students had set out on a 32-kilometre padayatra to the district collector’s office in Gadwal to protest against recurring issues such as poor drinking water, lack of washrooms, and unhygienic food.
The protesting students said that the water plant on campus contains high levels of fluoride, making it unsafe to drink. Despite repeated appeals over the past few years for a supply of safe drinking water through Mission Bhagiratha, officials failed to respond. They also said that the washrooms were in a terrible state, forcing students to use nearby agricultural fields. Additionally, they complained of being served substandard food, often finding small stones and even worms in the rice.
As they were vexed by the inaction, around 56 Class 10 students began their march to the collectorate. They had walked nearly seven kilometres when police stopped them and transported them back to the school.
Later, Additional Collector V Laxminarayana visited the school and assured the students that their issues would be addressed promptly. He also informed them that district collector and magistrate BM Santhosh would visit the school on Thursday.
“Around 635 students from Classes 5 to 10 and Intermediate study here. The problems are not new. For the last two years, we have lacked basic facilities. Many of us have fallen ill due to unsafe drinking water. We have raised these issues with our teachers many times, but nothing changed. We are even mistreated by the school owner,” said Suresh, a Class 10 student.
Speaking to TNIE, school principal Ramakrishna said, “The school is operating from a rented building. We had asked the owner to construct proper washrooms, but that hasn’t happened. The water plant has now been repaired. We have assured students that new washrooms will be built soon.”
Former finance minister and senior BRS leader T Harish Rao criticised the Congress government for neglecting Gurukul schools. He demanded immediate action and expressed pain over students being forced to protest for basic needs. He also accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of ignoring the education sector.