BENGALURU: The private schools in the city are facing the brunt of water scarcity in the city, rendering students and teachers helpless. The Associated Managements of Primary & Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), which has all private schools under its ambit, met with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar on Sunday and submitted a memorandum requesting the government to help address the issue of water scarcity in schools.
The association highlighted that schools cannot declare holidays since examinations are being conducted for different grades, and clean and hygienic toilets are a must for the students. “The BWSSB is only releasing water once a week, which is not sufficient in many schools. If the toilets meant for students are not kept clean, it will have a direct impact on their health. Private tankers are also not supplying water to schools, given that they have been taken under government’s control. This has become a challenge for many educational institutions,” read the letter.
The association urged the government to help private educational institutions, prioritise their needs and instruct the BWSSB to supply water to the schools at subsidised rates, and said that the students’ health and future is at stake here.
Shashi Kumar D, general secretary, KAMS said that both the Chief Minister, and the Deputy Chief Minister have instructed BWSSB to cooperate with schools. “Educational institutes are mostly dependent on BWSSB water supply or groundwater through borewells, which have now gone completely dry. Schools are storing water in huge drums and tanks so that there is a reduction in wastage of water,” he added.