TMREIS schools playing spoilsport with no playgrounds for students

TMREIS officials admit that since almost all schools are functioning from rented private buildings, there is a lack of open space to serve as playgrounds.

No relief in short term as buildings lease extended Through a recent circular, the schools have been intimated by the government that the lease of the buildings has been extended for another year. Now, school administrations, who were so far hopeful of ge

HYDERABAD: Though the Telangana Minority Residential Educational Institutions Society (TMREIS) boasts of providing affordable and quality education to underprivileged minority students, it has not been able to provide a basic facility — a playground — to about 60,000 children studying in 40 schools in the city. 

Nearly half of these schools at Charminar, Yakutpura, Bahadurpura, Malakpet, Chandrayangutta, Goshamahal and other places in the Old City of Hyderabad, have to depend on GHMC playgrounds or wait for inter-school tournaments or annual summer camps where their students are trained in various games for a month. 

There are 204 TMREIS schools in the state and 190 of them are housed in private buildings. Only one school, that is at Barkas, is situated in a government building. TMREIS officials admit that since almost all schools are functioning from rented private buildings, there is a lack of open space to serve as playgrounds. Curiously, there some schools which share buildings with function halls. 

However, in the absence of playgrounds, many look to rent GHMC playgrounds. “It is very difficult to find a premise with an open ground in the Old City.  But we are not neglecting the physical development of students. Almost all schools have tied up with the GHMC for playgrounds and students are taken there every day. We pay a monthly rental of `5,000 for the ground,” he said. His school has 200 boys studying Classes 6-9.

Since the schools are residential, the TMREIS has provided rooms for playing indoor games like chess and carom. But this has not satisfied the parents who often raise the demand for an open ground for nurturing physical activity of children. The problem is acuter at girls schools. “Since the GHMC playgrounds are accessed by everyone, we are forced to take the girls there only once a week, and that too early in the morning. It is not very convenient or safe to take them there daily. They have to make do with indoor games,” said Masoomah Hassan, principal, TMRS Charminar Girls School II.

By a recent circular the schools have been intimated that the lease of the buildings has been extended for another year. School administrations, who were hopeful of getting new and sprawling campuses, rue that it would be a long time before the move to a new space. Meanwhile, local leaders have labelled TMREIS as “a scam, which flouts the norms of the education department with impunity”. Syed Ali Jaffry, BJP Minority Morcha general secretary, has alleged that despite the huge funding the TMRIES receives, there is no accountability.  “School are run from multi-storeyed buildings, sometimes function halls. Tenders are awarded to relatives of top officials, and playgrounds, one of the basic parameters based on which recognition is given to private schools, is absent in these schools. Do they have different rules,” he asked. 

No relief in short-term as buildings lease extended
Through a recent circular, the schools have been intimated by the government that the lease of the buildings has been extended for another year. Now, school administrations, who were so far hopeful of getting new and sprawling campuses, rue that it would be a long time before the move to a new space.