Though the government has announced the reopening of schools in the state from September 1st, the plight of the institutions especially of Urdu medium schools is inexplicable as they face the dropout issue severely with half of the strength vanished due to pandemic whiplash.
As per the pre-pandemic estimation, there were over five thousand private schools in the old city besides 130 to 150 government Urdu medium schools. As per a conservative estimation, these institutions impart education to over five lakh students from different socio-economic groups.
“As per the conservative estimation, nearly 1300 private schools – that come closer to over 25 percent of the total five thousand schools of the old city, have closed as over half of the strength of these institutions have vanished ever since the outbreak of the pandemic. Though the government run schools have so far survived the pandemic – as they have to follow due procedures before winding up, they too not immune to the winds of adversities and have identically affected in terms of drop outs,” said Habeeb Abdul Rehman, President Telangana All Minorities Employees and Workers Association (T-ALLMEWA) Rangareddy District.
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“Most of the students, either from private or are from government institutions, have given up their studies and associated themselves with odd jobs. Even the girl students are some way or other involved in petty community works to eke out bread and butter for their families,” claimed Abdul Rehman.
In such a hard time, he said, a campaign should be run to encourage parents and stimulate the students to restore the strength of the schools. “Only this way the lost strength of the schools could be restored as a significant number of students are completely detached themselves with the schools while their parents are still skeptical about sending their children for studies,” he asserted.
Most of the schools may open their gates to welcome the students after the government nod, but the parents are still afraid of the safety of their wards as the incidents of students getting affected during last unlocking is still afresh in their minds,
However, the other side of the coin is that the demand for admission into government run schools has gone up a little bit as the parents – unable to put up with the pressure of the private schools for repayment of fees, are keen to see their children get admitted into state run schools.
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“There is no logic in asking for payment of the fees for the months where no schools have been run and no studies have been imparted. Moreover, students were put to trouble by the private institutions in the name of online classes. Atleast now the government should provide all the necessary facilities in government schools as parents too are evincing interest in sending their children to state run schools,” said Syed Shoukat Ali, a community activist.
