HYDERABAD: Tucked away in one of the biggest slums in Hyderabad is the Government Primary and High School at Rasoolpura. If one enters its premises as early as 8:15 am, close to 550 children, in a congested space of less than 200 sq yards will be meditating, though it must be hard to concentrate amidst the stench of public toilets on one side and the commotion on the other.
“This space is all that we have right now. Earlier, we were able to access the huge ground where now stands the Secunderabad Cantonment Board’s (SCB) function hall,” says IS Sarahmani, the headmistress.
She is, however, elated that her children just got three trophies and have also been qualified for zonal-level Kabaddi and Kho Kho competitions.
Until two years ago, the strength of the school was three times what it today. So was the size of the ground shared by three schools, including this.
“After repeated protests and sending a number of representations to officers at various levels too, the function hall was constructed,” says Vennela, cluster coordinator of Basti Vikas Manch (BVM), an NGO in Rasoolpura slum.
The hall was inaugurated on Dec 6, 2015 by Etela Rajendar, finance minister, KT Rama Rao, IT minister and others. “I noticed all the people walking towards the hall on that day and asked them why. The women told me S Keshava Reddy, the Vice- President of SCB, invited them on the pretext of giving them pucca houses. In the presence of these misguided basti people, the hall was inaugurated,” says S Sardar Begum, a 66-year-old member. Food is cooked right outside the hall beside the primary school windows.
R Vishweshwar Rao, the PET of the school since 2009, rues that practising Kabbaddi or Kho Kho, in which the students excel, is difficult now.
“The ground is uneven. We cannot accommodate all the children at once and so I have to make them practise in batches,” he says. All classes have three periods of physical training a week.
“There is no space for indoor games either. We have to use an empty classroom to play chess and carrom. It is difficult to engage so many children in so little space,” he adds.
Moreover, people who come to attend functions in the hall park their vehicles on this little school ground. Vehicles parked outside make it difficult for the midday meals van to enter the school premises.
The school management and BVM requested SCB to provide the hall to them, free of cost on certain days, but were denied the request on grounds that that it is booked on all days.