KARIMNAGAR/KHAMMAM: Long gone are the days when even the poorest of the poor used to think twice before enrolling their kids into government schools. While one reason behind this trend was the outbreak of Covid-19, which pushed the economy to the brink while rendering many jobless, the fact that the authorities equipped the government schools with facilities on par with their private counterparts also helped increase enrolments in public educational institutions.
“If government schools can provide our kids with the best of facilities at a low cost, then why waste time making a beeline for private schools,” is pretty much the opinion of hundreds of parents. While prepping to do a story on ‘the demand for government schools in a post-Covid Telangana’, Express was flabbergasted to learn that even middle-class families were more inclined toward sending their children to public educational institutions. However, the only sad part here was that it took several years and the outbreak of a pandemic, which left these families incomeless, to realise that government schools were not to be looked down upon.
Reportedly, the situation is same in both Karimnagar and Khammam districts. As a result, many government schools, which were on the verge of closure, have started regaining their past glory. With the sudden spike in headcount, schoolteachers are also enthusiastic about discharging duties.
Take, for instance, Sawaran Government High School in Division-32 under MCK limits. A school that was struggling to remain functioning till last academic year, has been abuzz with children ever since the government decided to resume classes. Just this year, the school witnessed 348 new admissions, leaving most classrooms packed. School headmaster Ch Ramurthy also expressed joy over this trend.
“I never expected that the facilities at government schools would be on par with their private counterparts. The teachers are giving equal importance to both special and online classes as well. Though my parents enrolled me into this school as they were struggling to make both ends meet, I am very happy now,” Nanne Abhinay, studying in Class 9 at Sawaran school, says. Durshed Primary School also witnessed a major spike in headcount with 320 new admissions.
Mentioning that he previously used to pay Rs 40,000 for the education of his two children who studied in private schools, D Mahender Reddy, a parent belonging to Gangadhara mandal, told Express that now there was no such financial burden on their family. Erstwhile Khammam district has also been seeing a similar trend. When Express spoke to some official sources in the Education Department, they said that the government schools here have been witnessing a major spike in enrolments. Another reason behind this is that most private schools have not resumed offline classes, owing to the fear of an impending third wave.
“Though we went all out during the previous academic years to increase headcount in such schools, no significant changes happened. However, we attained the target this time without putting in any effort,” they point out.
Kothagudem DEO E Somasekhar Sharma says: “With the enrolment of private schoolchildren, headcount at government primary schools in the district has gone up by about 13 per cent.” His Khammam counterpart, K Yadaiah, says that the district has witnessed a spike of about 10 to 11 per cent in headcount at primary schools this year. While there are 1,259 primary schools in Khammam with a total strength of 1, 10,000, Kothagudem has 1,314 primary schools with a strength of 38,768. Sharma attributed this trend to the fact that they managed to offer English medium education in 50 per cent of the schools.
RISING FROM THE ASHES
Khazipur Government Primary School in Kothapalli mandal was shut down in 2016 due to low headcount, leaving the teachers and other staff in dire straits. However, the situation changed during the pandemic, as a result of which parents had to pressurise the government into reopening the school. With 33 new admissions, the school is slowly retaining its past glory.