Schools deprived of playgrounds

Visakhapatnam: Many private schools, which are offering Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in and around Visakhapatnam, have been deprived of playground.

Hence, they are taking the students to nearby playground, but number of physical training periods are being reduced which is significantly affecting the health and mind of the school students.

The playground area should be sufficient and it should be part of the school campus as per infrastructure required to be affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). However, as per the Andhra Pradesh government order, playground area is not mandatory for the State Board Affiliation.

Speaking to The Hans India, District Education Officer B Lingeswar Reddy said that the schools should have either land area of minimum 1,000 square metres for a playground on the school campus or they can show a playground nearby schools on an affiliation mode  by citing the GO released by Andhra Pradesh government. 

“Over 60 per cent of the private schools in the city do not have own playground. As it has come to their view that schools are not encouraging physical training classes, even after the  DEO had  warned the schools of cancelling their affiliation.

PV Satyanaraya, former physical education  director of Krishna College and  presently working in a  private school, said that forget about the physical training classes, many private schools not not have physical education teachers.

The schools reduced the number of PT classes as taking the students to the nearby playground is not easy. Obesity rates in children and adolescents are increasing. The reason, children are not getting chance to play outdoor games at their homes due to lack of open space and the same situation in schools is affecting the health and mind of the children significantly, he lamented.

Daniyal Ravi Kumar Jetty, Andhra Pradesh State President of Consumer Rights Organisation (CRO), alleged that education and health care were commercialised. 

The owners of the schools to get the affiliation, they are showing nearby playground. But, the students are hardly being taken there to play. Which is a major concern of the parents and they are asking the school authorities to provide basic amenities in schools.