Kids waiting for safer classrooms forced outdoors in Raichur

Nearly 190 children at a government school on the outskirts of Raichur city have been attending classes outside for months after unsafe classrooms were demolished, with reconstruction still awaiting the release of ₹1.60 crore from the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board.

The Government Higher Primary School in Askihal village has been without enough classrooms since the old structures were removed on safety grounds about one-and-a-half years ago. Primary classes are often held outdoors ever since, sometimes under trees and in exposed areas of the school campus.

The shortage has also forced the school to operate in two shifts. High school students attend from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm, while primary students attend from 1 pm to 5 pm. Teachers have adjusted their schedules as a result. Parents said children sit through lessons in heat and rain and face the possibility of encountering poisonous creatures.

Raichur deputy director of public instruction Mallikarjun said the education department had already submitted a proposal for new classrooms. “Construction work will begin soon after the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board releases ₹1.60 crore,” he said.

Mallikarjun said the department was trying to manage the shortage with the rooms available at the school while seeking a temporary solution from the Zilla Panchayat. “Due to the shortage of classrooms, some upper primary classes are being conducted in the available rooms, while primary school students are being taught outdoors. We have appealed to the Zilla Panchayat to provide portable classrooms or container classrooms as a temporary arrangement,” he said.

A local activist Basavaraj called for temporary classrooms to be installed without delay. “A laboratory and library should also be established at the school,” he said. “If these demands are not fulfilled, villagers, parents and students will launch a large scale protest in the coming days,” he added.

Another activist Shivakumar Kanthane said the continued use of outdoor spaces for teaching was unacceptable nearly a year after the old rooms were removed.

Raichur City MLA S Shivaraj Patil said the KKRDB had sanctioned the money needed for construction.

“It is not the case that classes are conducted outside every day. On some days, smart classes are conducted in certain classrooms, and because of the resulting shortage of available rooms, some classes have to be held outdoors,” he said.

State school education minister Madhu Bangarappa did not respond to HT’s repeared queries for comment till the time of going to publication.