The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Government schools open to a low turnout in city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 13, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Government schools open to a low turnout in city

Abhijit Dev Kumar

Students on vacation usually come back only one week after school reopens, say teachers

Reluctant mood: Government schools in old city saw a low turnout as schools re-opened on Thursday morning.

Hyderabad: Government schools in the old city area opened their gates to a low student turnout on Thursday morning.

While other schools in the city saw parents accompanying their wards on the first day of school, the ones around Charminar wore an almost deserted look.

Extended holiday

Call it an extended holiday or ‘mass bunking’ in student terminology, classrooms in most of the government schools barely saw children coming back. While those who came loitered around the grounds or simply chit-chatted about their summer holidays, teachers were seen getting together in the staff rooms, discussing the changes that the schools will face in the current academic year.

“Most students go on vacations to their relatives’ place and come back only after a week of reopening of the school. Their numbers increase gradually once each one starts coming back,” informs Mohammed Masooduddin Ahmed, Head Master of Government Boys High School at Moghulpura.

Bus passes

“Moreover, students living far away from the school start attending classes regularly only after their bus passes are issued, which could take away another two weeks of their time,” he adds.

There were cases where students of fifth to tenth were being taught by a single teacher on the first day of school while the other classrooms were deserted.

It was the same scenario at the Government Upper Primary School at Aliabad.

Children were seen blissfully playing in the school ground.

“The first day is always like this. Children come to the school and are admitted into their new classes. Instructions begin sometime later when the numbers add up,” informs Shobha Rani, in-charge of the school.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh