VIJAYAWADA: THERE are just a few 'sought after' of schools in the capital region of Vijayawada-Guntur, and given the ways of school managements, admissions are easy for senior bureaucrats. Not so for the thousands of lower-rung officers who are having to move to the upcoming capital lock, stock and barrel, goods and chattels.
C Sharath Chandra is a section officer in the Secretariat that the Andhra Pradesh government shares with Telangana in Hyderabad.
He has less than a month to move to the new capital. His son is in class five at a well-known private school in Hyderabad, and last week the father was in Vijayawada scouting for 'good' schools that will have his son. All the schools he approached told him admissions are closed. Period.
“Our predicament failed to impress the school admission committees. The government has no influence in the matter. I have no other choice but to leave my child behind in Hyderabad in his old school,” said Mr Sharath Chandra. “The problem might look like a minor one for the people at the helm of affairs, but to me it's a major one,” he said. His son has his grandparents to look after him, but "I will be missing him a lot," said Mr Chandra.
There are thousands of employees like Sharath Chandra who are now doing the rounds of schools in Vijayawada, Mangalagiri and Guntur to find seats for their children. Varalakshmi, another section officer in the Hyderabad Secretariat, is having a tough time too finding a school for her daughter who is in class six.
“I wanted to admit her in a good school, but the seats were already taken. Even recommendation letters did not work. Now, I am in a dilemma whether to continue her in her old school or bring her to Vijayawada. Schools in Vijayawada have already opened. Schools in Hyderabad open on Monday. My joining date in Amaravati is yet to be finalised. If I let her remain in Hyderabad, where should I keep her? I am in a fix,” said Ms Varalakshmi.
Many government employees with children in class ten and Intermediate are opting to keep them in Hyderabad. “Relocating them at this juncture will be a great risk, as it can affect their academic performance. Many employees are preferring to make some arrangements in Hyderabad itself,” said K V Krishnaiah, chairman of the AP Gazetted Officers Associations JAC.
Parental concerns
Owing to lack of seats, parents forced to leave children behind
Recommendation letters also of no use, say parents