GVMC authorities partially demolish and seize school for special children

The GVMC officials demolished the sheds constructed by the organiser Saturday evening and on Sunday, they seized the premises.

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) authorities have partially demolished and seized a no-profit school being run for special children in MVP Colony locality of Visakhapatnam city leading to a furore. The organisers of the school said that no notices were served to vacate the premises while the GVMC officials maintained they have orally intimated the organisers several times to vacate the premises as the lease was not renewed.

The GVMC officials demolished the sheds constructed by the organiser Saturday evening and on Sunday, they seized the premises.

The Hidden Sprouts, special school for mentally handicapped children, was founded by Kandipilli Srinivas Rao in 2013. What began as a home school for only six children now has 190 such students. The two-room building was given on lease by GVMC in 2013 and the organiser erected sheds to accommodate more children as the numbers grew and physically challenged and autistic students too were admitted.

"These students of various age groups spend most of their time here developing their skills and discovering their hidden talents. And now, they might have no school to go to," said Srinivas.
Hidden Sprouts provides free education, transport and all necessary school equipment for the children. All the children are from financially unstable families.

Several mentally and physically challenged students and their parents along with the school staff protested in front of the locked school premises during the non-curfew hours Sunday. Srinivas stated that the school received funds thanks to the support of the local politicians and others.

P Lakshmi, mother of one of the special children told TNIE, "My husband blamed me for having my child saying it was my fault and left us. I never thought my son would go to school. But thanks to Hidden Sprouts and Srinivas, he is going to school. What have these children done? Why is their school being taken away from them?"

She said that it was unfair that the sheds were brought down and requested the authorities to let the school continue its services, for the sake of the special children. "Until then, we will come here to protest every day. These mentally and physically challenged children need a school,''she said.

The premises in which the school was run was given to Srinivas for lease for a nominal amount of Rs 3,000 per month in 2013. Srinivas claims to have paid the first six months advance after which he did not pay any amount as the officers appreciated his services and told him that he need not pay.

"In November 2020, GVMC Commissioner G Srijana had visited our school and appreciated the staff and students and asked us to continue our work," Srinivas stated adding that she had talked positively and had not brought up the topic of renewal of the lease of the site. He stated that he is ready to re-apply for a long-term lease for the land so that they can continue educating the children there. "I don't want the children to lose out on education," he said
 

"The school began on amount of personal debts by me. I was moved by the plight of mentally and physically challenged children and I wanted to do something to help them," he explained.

Speaking to TNIE, Zonal Commissioner (Zone-III) Srinivasa Rao stated that the allotted area was seized as the lease period was not renewed. "Several community people had also complained stating that sheds were being built without permission," Rao added. Originally, only two rooms were allotted by the GVMC.

School founder Srinivas explained that the sheds were built nearly 5-6 years back. "Infrastructure worth 5-6 lakhs was demolished by the authorities Saturday. If they had told me to remove the sheds, I would had done so,'' he said. The sheds were built to accommodate more children and conduct outdoor activities.

The Zonal Commissioner explained that the school authorities were asked to move or look for a different place several times before the premises was seized. However, the organisers did not want to move, he said.

"It takes a lot of time for autistic children to adjust to certain surroundings. Hence, we does not want to move to another place," the school authorities explained.