After Summer Break....Students back to school to study with books, buddies

Hyderabad: Students returned to their school routines on Wednesday after a long summer break, with attendance on the first day hovering around 50–60 per cent. As the new academic year begins, many government schools in the city face ongoing challenges. Despite the renovation of classrooms, washrooms, and other facilities, there remains a lack of staff appointed to maintain the school premises.

In many government schools, textbooks arrive only for higher classes (8 to 10), while the lower classes receive only notebooks, not textbooks. The same issue occurs with uniforms, as only a few sets are delivered to schools. Although 90 per cent of the work under the ‘Amma Adarsha Patashala’ scheme is complete in the city, providing proper washrooms, well-equipped laboratories, and new classrooms, the lack of sanitation workers remains a significant problem. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, no servicemen (sanitation workers) have been appointed to maintain the school premises.

“We have received only 60 per cent of the textbooks in our school; maybe we will receive the rest in the second phase. While we have received all the notebooks, our main concern is the lack of sanitation workers. Under the 'Amma Adarsha Patashala' scheme, infrastructural works have been completed, including proper washrooms and well-equipped laboratories, but these improvements are futile without staff to maintain them,” said PV Prasad, an English teacher at Government High School, Abids.

“We have received only 50 per cent of the textbooks. While uniforms for certain classes have arrived, the rest may be available by next week,” said Ramana, a government school teacher at Kachiguda.

“Today, being the first day after summer vacation, we had very low attendance. We expect full attendance within two to three days. We have received only 60 per cent of the books but no uniforms yet, likely because the stitching work was given to Self Help Groups (SHGs). Additionally, our school has a new look, but we are facing a shortage of subject teachers,” said Naresh, a government school teacher.

Meanwhile, according to officials from the School Education Department, Telangana, around 21,19,439 students will receive uniforms within this week, and 1,165,995 students received notebooks on the first day. Textbooks are to be distributed to 25,80,291 students for the year 2024–25, and approximately 303,961 workbooks are to be distributed to students of classes I–V for the year 2024–25.