Hyderabad government school expels ‘weak’ students for bragging rights

Instead of conducting special classes for the 30 Class X students who were rusticated, Raj Bhavan Government School forced teachers to take extra classes for toppers.
Teachers working in the school told Express that the headmaster forcibly handed over the Transfer Certificate to the students, despite resistance from parents and teachers alike. 
Teachers working in the school told Express that the headmaster forcibly handed over the Transfer Certificate to the students, despite resistance from parents and teachers alike. 

HYDERABAD: Following in the footsteps of corporate schools that are notorious for going to the bitter end to sell their ‘credibility’ using CGPA scores of students, the Raj Bhavan Government School, in a shocking turn of events, allegedly rusticated 30 Class 10 students for being academically ‘weak’.

Teachers working in the school told Express that the headmaster forcibly handed over the Transfer Certificate to the students, despite resistance from parents and teachers alike. 

“Students were promoted to Class 10 in June. Without providing any remedial classes to the academically-weak students, they were directly issued TCs, that too four months later. Instead of conducting special classes for such students, we were forced to take extra classes for class toppers. The authorities were afraid that these students might fail or under-perform in the final examination, and in turn, depreciate the school’s overall results,” said a high school teacher, requesting anonymity.

Located in the heart of the city and known for its superior infrastructure and facilities, the Raj Bhavan Government School was the pet project of the former governor ESL Narasimhan. Each year, the school attracts more students than it has the capacity for. 

Principal in-charge Suman K, meanwhile, has refuted the allegations and said that certain persons were engaging in negative propaganda and spreading false news owing to the school’s popularity. 

“Only a handful of students have left the school and they had applied for TC. Some of them come from faraway places. They wanted to study in schools that are close to their homes. Some others had various other reasons to cite. We did not ask anyone to leave,” said the principal. 

Teachers of the school, however, submitted a representation to the District Education Officer, Hyderabad, seeking removal of the principal in-charge from the post. Interestingly, Suman is also the principal of Begumpet Government School as well as the deputy inspector of schools for Secunderabad.

Chava Ravi, general secretary, Telangana State United Teachers Federation condemned the incident and said that competitiveness such as this has been adopted from corporate schools. “If children are turned away from government schools, how will they get education? Schools should give remedial classes to such students.” 

M Veerachary, general secretary, Government Teachers Association, said that government schools these days were increasingly adopting the practice of rusticating students, albeit in very small numbers, to ensure good SSC results.

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