Water taps run dry overpending bills at sarkari schools in Telangana

Hyderabad: Non-payment of water bills has left drinking water taps in several government schools dry. With the onset of early summer, students studying in Government Schools are struggling to quench their thirst in the schools. When tried to reach the education department, they seem to be tight-lipped and a mute spectator. The Hans India team visited a Government High School in Musheerabad and found that potable drinking water taps are dried up as the management failed to pay the bills on time. The situation with other government schools in the city including Government High School -YMCA, Government High School– Trimulgherry , Chaderghat ,Rein Bazar , Shah Gunj and Yakutpura remains the same. Most of the schools water bills are pending for the past two–three years and the amount is more than Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

According to Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), a report of 2021-22 reveals that 30,023 government schools in Telangana out of 11,124 schools do not have tap water supply, while 1,859 schools have no drinking water. As per recent RTI reply to the petition reveals that maximum schools in the district and also in Hyderabad water taps are non-functional.

On the condition of anonymity, the headmaster of Government High School , Secunderabad , said "Every summer we face drinking water issue and almost all the government schools has water taps connections but due to non-payment of water bills water connection has been disconnected. Our school has water filters and due to fund crunch we could not replace the collies and at present it is lying dysfunctional. Many times we have urged to education department regarding this issue and also requested to clear the bills but fell on deaf ears."

"Recently from the education department, we have received an order that those schools do not have water connection where advice to purchase water boltless but in many schools, headmasters are not implementing. Keep in mind of the onset of summer we have advised our children to carry water bottles with them, said Ahmed Khan, teacher of Government High School, Yakutpura.

"This is not a new thing, for the past three years in my school there is no water supply, last year our headmaster have placed a water filter but at present, it lying dysfunctional, so due to this we are asked to bring water from our houses, said Rohan , class 10 student of Government High School Trimulgherry and same was quoted by Ramesh , class 9 student of Government High School , YMCA.

"Many schools in the city and as well as in the Districts that includes Sircilla, Medak and Nizamabad potable drinking water taps in government schools are non-functional. Even my recent RTI reply that I received in the month of November to the petition reveals that maximum schools in the district and also in Hyderabad, the water taps are non-functional and at present the situation is the same. It will better that officials of the education department actually review the government schools situation and ensure that all government schools have drinking water facilities and even proper water connection in washrooms which the government schools are lacking, as due to this students are facing hardship, said Robin Zaccheus , RTI activist.