CHITRADURGA: The Government Higher Primary School located at Obalapura in Challakere taluk coming under Molakalmuru constituency of Chitradurga district and sharing border with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh is in a dilapidated state. The roofs of its buildings have been damaged, walls are on the verge of collapse and the students are forced to sit outside to study.
The negligence of the officials is evident from the state of the buildings and repeated requests by the SDMC of the Obalapura school which is 42 kilometres away from Challakere and 30 kilometres from Kalyanadurga and Rayadurga of Ananthapura district of Andhra Pradesh has not yielded any results and the students of Obalapura, Dasaralahalli, Kodihatti, Padappanagudi, Chikkabadehalli and Dodda Badehalli are suffering due to this negligence.
About 270 students are studying in this school, which hosts classes 1 to 8 and the lone school to provide quality education to the students on the state border in Kannada medium. The school which has completed a century needs better infrastructure and facilities to ensure that the children to stay in their village and take up education.
Apart from classrooms, the school also needs better toilets and compound so that the children need not fear for their safety. Another problem plaguing this school is shortage of teachers, which should be based on the number of children attending school.
Obalapura may be in Challakere taluk, but it comes under Molakalmuru constitutency represented by Tribal Welfare and Transport Minister B Sriramulu. The villagers have demanded the minister to visit their school and pump in funds for development of education in this backward region.
Speaking to TNIE, Devapurta Obalapura, a resident said that the classrooms at the Government Higher Primary School Obalapura are totally damaged and students are forced to sit below the trees outside regularly while attending classes.
He said that the school should be renovated and special funds should be provided for improving the infrastructure. As large number of children from Obalapura and neighbouring villages study here, it has to be developed, he said.
He also said that, neglecting to repair the building may lead to untoward incidents. Hence in the larger interest of protecting Kannada medium schools on the border, this school should be improved.
DDPI K Ravishankar Reddy too visited the school and assured of better classrooms, but the assurance has not been fulfilled, he added.
Block Education Officer Suresh said, "The roof of the GHPS, Obalapura ist badly damaged and we had written to PWD to provide a detailed report on whether to repair the building or demolish it. Based on the report, we will take a decision. Till such time, an alternate arrangement will be made." He also said that the roofs needs to be replaced at present.