Khajipur taking an ideal and commendable decision

Even as the most of the parents even in rural areas opt to send their children to private schools, the residents of Khajipur village in Kothapalli mandal which is located 17 km away from Karimnagar, the district are in the news by taking an ideal and commendable decision of putting an end to that practice of providing private schooling.

Though number of State-run schools in the State are being closed due to zero occupancy as the majority of the parents are admitting their children in private institutions by paying huge donations, Khajipur villagers girded their loins to reopen the upper primary school which was closed five years ago with a determination of school education to their children in that government shcool that too in their village only.

Going an extra mile, the villagers also unanimously passed a resolution in their Gram Panchayat which enables to penalize the families who send their children to private schools including cutting all the benefits they get from the government such as pensions and ration.

As a result, a total of 35 students turned up at the school on the first day of its resumption on Monday which caught attention from everywhere. The school, which started 30 year ago, once, used to run with a strength of 300 students. However, the strength gradually declined with parents sending their wards to English medium schools in Karimnagar town leading to shut down from the 2015-16 academic year due to lack of student strength.Though the elders reopened the school by convincing villagers, there are still doubts among the parents over the proper running of the classes for the students.

Village sarpanch Illandula Rajavva said they have decided to reopen the school with the cooperation of the district officials as a number of poor parents were being fleeced by the private schools. some of the parents were borrowing money to clear fee dues, she said. To help the poor parents and protect the old grandeur of the school, the entire village decided to reopen it and teaching in English medium. In this regard, a resolution was also passed by the Gram Panchayat on June 27 to make sure the parents send their kids to the government school. It will take at least one week time to get the text books and other requirements to the chilren, she said.Headmistress of the upper primary school, Kura Jayasree urged the officials to restore the facilities including the appointments of two more staff members.

Dumpati Anjaiah, who is sending his two sons studying in first and third standard to a private school in Karimangar, said that he was thinking to shift his children to the reopened school once got the confidence of the amenities like drinking water, toilets and the study at the school are reestablished.