SRIKAKULAM: With no school building in the village, teachers have been taking classes under trees near a tank for the past two-and-a-half years in Devakivada village in Vangara Mandal. Although a primary school and an upper primary school were sanctioned more than two years ago, no budget was released by the State government for construction of buildings.
Taking the plight of students into account, the government had sanctioned a primary school in the village in 2016 and an upper primary school in 2017 in two colonies. During rainy season, teachers take classes on the verandah of nearby houses. Both the schools are being run under the open areas. With no alternative, teachers keep the records in the houses of villagers. Devakivada village was acquired for construction of Madduvalasa Reservoir more than five years ago and an R&R Colony was constructed near Kinjangi village, about 2 km from the village, Mandal Parishad Upper Primary School headmaster P Sudhakar Rao said.
As a part of providing basic amenities in the R&R colony, the government-sanctioned an upper primary school in 2017. But no funds were released. One contractor came forward to construct a building for children in the village and did it up to slab level. “We run the school from the half constructed building in the village,” he added. Earlier, there were 101 students and about eight teachers in the school prior to shifting. Though it is a UP school, not even a single admission took place in Classes 6 to 8. Currently, there are only three teachers and 26 students from Classes 1 to 5.
Primary school headmaster Palla Murali said funds have not been forthcoming even after sanctioning the primary school in the village in October 2016. “Since then, we have been running the school from under trees near a tank. Though we manage to run the school during the non-rainy days, we face problems in the rainy season and in winter too. “We have no option but to keep school records in one of the houses in the village,” the headmaster added.
He also said they take lunch in open areas. Mid-day-meal workers cook food at their house and bring it to the site, where the school is being run. “We suffer from health issues in the rainy season,” said Ravi, a Class 5 student. He said that the students carry school bag and a gunny bag daily to the school. The gunny bag is used for sitting in the class under trees,” he added. “We took the situation to the notice of higher-ups several times, but to no avail,” Vangara MEO Durga Rao said.