Karimnagar: Poor hostel facilities put Gurukul & social welfare students to hardships
Students and their parents at a Gurukul schools in the erstwhile Karimnagar district
Karimnagar: Students, who returned to Gurukuls in the erstwhile Karimnagar district after Covid lockdown, are facing lot of troubles. The situation especially worst in Mahatma Jyotiba Phule BC Gurukuls, which have been running in 22 places in four districts for the past few years. About 70 per cent of these Gurukuls are being run in rented buildings, which were set up in a hurried manner.
For boys, the Gurukuls were set up at Allipur (Raikal), Ayilapur (Korutla), Kottapalli and Burugupalli (Gangadhara), Veenavanka, Karimnagar town, Ganneruvaram, Sultanabad, Rama Guda Kataram, Sircilla and Lingampet.
For girls, Gurukuls were set up in Karimnagar town as well as Venkatrao Peta (Metpalli), Dharur Camp (Jagtial), LMD Colony, Gundlapalli (Ganneruvaram), Manakondur, Huzurabad, Saidapur, Peddapalli and Sircilla. Over 4,000 students were staying in them.
Students are suffering due to lack of facilities in rented buildings. Bathrooms and latrines are inadequate and water shortage is the main problem. The dormitories are not sufficient to accommodate the ever-increasing numbers of students.
Classrooms are being used to store students' luggage due lack of space as all buildings were selected five years ago to run Gurukuls temporarily. Students and parents are demanding the government to address the issue immediately.
Coming to social welfare hostels, around 12,300 students are studying in SC, ST and BC welfare hostels in the district, according to 2020-21 census. There are 30 hostels under pre-metric and 38 hostels under post-matric category and 6,100 students were staying there.
There are 13 SC welfare hostels accommodating 4,800 pre-matric students, 24 post-matric hostels accommodating 1,400 students. There are four Tribal welfare hostels for pre-matric students and 10 hostels for post-matric students. A total of 1,400 students are studying in ST hostels.
Even as the winter season intensifies, the government is yet to provide blankets two months after the hostels were opened. The students living in the hostels were shivering at night as in many hostels doors and windows are in damaged condition.