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25 Govt schools in Cantonment have no drinking water
Students of government schools in the Secunderabad Cantonment have no drinking water. Intermittent water supply, contaminated water, lack of water connections and storage facility are issues that plague the government schools in the Secunderabad Cantonment.
Students of government schools in the Secunderabad Cantonment have no drinking water. Intermittent water supply, contaminated water, lack of water connections and storage facility are issues that plague the government schools in the Secunderabad Cantonment.
Most of the government schools are in Indiramma Nagar slum, which has a 1.5 lakh population and is the fifth largest slum in Asia. Most of the schools in the area have good strength and are in good buildings. For instance, the Government High School at Gun Bazaar in Rasoolpura has a healthy student population of 1,000. The Government High School in Mudfort has about 1,200 students but lack of water is resulting in dropouts.
90 per cent of the schools do not have safe drinking water and students are forced to bring their own water bottles. Srinivas, a student of Government High School in Rasoolpura said that the water is insufficient and they cannot carry more than a bottle. Rachna Sultana, headmistress of the school says, “The water supply, which is on alternate days, is just for an hour. We requested the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) several times to increase the supply but to no avail. Girls find it very difficult.”
In some schools there are toilets but no water supply, while in others there is water supply but no toilets. The Government Primary School in Anna Nagar gets water once in eight days. P Jayaram Reddy, headmaster says, “If we can provide water consistently the dropout rate will automatically comedown.”
There are more than 1,800 colonies in the Secunderabad Cantonment. Amjad Khan, coordinator, Basthi Vikas Manch says, “The SCB supplies water to residential colonies every alternate day but the schools get water once in eight days. There are schools with water tanks and toilets but due to lack of water students are unable to make use of the toilets.”
Senior officials at the SCB say that the board receives 44 million gallons per day from the Water Board and distribution to all is a huge task. When asked about SCB not approving new water connections, a senior official said that just last month one school was sanctioned and two others are in process. Amjad says, “The Balamrai pump house is close to Anna Nagar but water to schools is not supplied daily. Whereas colonies get water regularly.”
By:T P Venu
