TUMKURU: At a time when the country is busy in implementing the New Education policy, here at Sira of Tumkuru district the historic high school is totally in a dilapidated state.
Out of the 24 rooms of the Government PU college (High school division) only 8 are in a position of usage and rest of the rooms are abandoned. Children are studying amidst fear that the building might collapse. Some of the pillars of the building, ceilings of the rooms and walls are in a dilapidated position, but the administrators are least bothered about repairing the building.
The foundation stone for the building was laid by the then governor of Karnataka Jayachamaraja Wadiyar in the year 1949 July, 30 and the same was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Mysore state Kengal Hanumanthaiah on 1955 April, 27. At the time of inauguration the school was called Municipal High School, Sira.
A former student of the high school and social worker of Sira Shashikumar told TNIE, the condition of the rooms is totally pathetic and is not in a position for conducting classes. He said that the school which has given many people of repute to the country has not seen any repair since its construction in the year 1955.
When the Delhi government can rebuild the schools and give it a facelift, why not Karnataka which has huge education budget, he questioned.
He also requested the government and the education minister Nagesh who himself hails from Tumkuru district to rebuild the school immediately and help many poor students to access good education.
Vice principal of the Government Junior college (High school section) Nagaraj said, 'There area about 490 students in the school out of whom 192 are new admissions. Among the 24 rooms belonging to the school 16 are abandoned and only 8 are in a position to be used for teaching. Majority of the classes are held under trees.
He said that, we have requested the department to demolish the building and construct a new building for the highschool. The request was sent to the public works department to provide a certificate on the condition of the building and then it was recommended for demolition by the executive engineer Madhugiri on Jan 18, 2021. However, no action has been initiated since.
Replying to a question, Nagaraj said that students from Pattanayakanahalli, Baraguru, Kallambella, Tavarekere and other hobli's come here for their higher education and classes are conducted in the dilapidated building.
Kumar who studied in the same school and now working as a teacher recollects the days when he was a student and said that in earlier days, the same building used to conduct degree, PU colleges and highschool. But now only highschool is held in this building, degree and PU colleges are now functioning in good buildings.
DDPI Krishnamurthy said that he is going to visit the Sira Government Junior College (Highschool) division on Friday after which he would send the inspection report on the status of the buildings to the
government. He accepted the fact that the present buildings are totally in a dilapidated state and steps will be taken for repairing so that the students can study easily.