Hyderabad: Old City sees students switch from private to government schools

Hyderabad: Following reopening of schools, parents in the Old City, especially of slum areas, are turning their back on private schools insisting payment of fee and choosing government schools for their children, as the pandemic has badly affected the poor families.

As per the pre-pandemic estimation, there were over 5,000 private schools in the Old City, besides 130-150 government Urdu- medium schools. A conservative estimation shows that together these institutions impart education to over five lakh students from poor family backgrounds.

"Following the reopening of schools, we witnessed an encouraging trend in admissions to government Urdu-medium schools, as fresh admissions have jumped significantly along with the old students," said Habeeb Abdul Rehman, president, Telangana All-Minorities Employees and Workers' Association (T-ALLMEWA) Rangareddy district.

Besides regular admissions, he said, a number of entries of children from poor backgrounds were also witnessed. Their parents have withdrawn them from private schools, unable to cope with the pressure for fee payment. "This has ratcheted up the admissions to government schools, especially in Urdu- medium institutions of slums that brought the footfalls up," he explained.

There are 79 government schools in Rajendranagar and Gandipet mandals. Both mandals have 11 Urdu-medium schools. While 10 of them are located in and around the Hassan Nagar area – that is considered densely populated slum on the city outskirts, only one is operational at Narsingi in Gandipet mandal. Together, these 11 schools have a strength base of over 1,000 students from class I to X standard, while over 40 teachers are serving in the primary, upper primary and high schools. Mohammed Anwar of Rajendranagar said, "We can't afford the educational expenses of our wards who, until now, studied in a local private school.

Regularly the management is asking for a fee on one pretext or the other. Up till now we managed this, but we can't endure this anymore, as we are already struggling with the post-lockdown whiplash. However, we will send our children to a nearby government school to continue their studies. This will also help us educate our children without a burden."

Syed Shoukat Ali, a community activist said, "Parents are put to trouble by some private institutions who are insisting for fee payment without considering their economic status. At least now the government should provide all facilities in State-run schools as parents too are evincing interest in sending their children these institutions."