Telangana: Sports school doors shut, 70 students sick

HYDERABAD: Lack of funds, viral fevers, and dengue have delayed the beginning of the academic year at Telangana State Sports School, Hakimpet by two months much to the displeasure of parents.
Parents of students who secured admission in Class 4 for the academic year 2019-20 said they are worried that their wards might have to lose an academic year due to delay in conducting classes. “Classes were scheduled to begin in the last week of July. However, students have not been asked to report to school,” said the parent of a Class 4 student. He said that although they received a letter stating school would open between September 3 and 10, they later received a call asking to wait until further notice.
“Officials said that they did not receive the grant. They said my son would face troubles if he joins and advised us to wait for a few more days. We are worried as classes have already started for students at Sports Schools in Adilabad and Karimnagar,” he added.
Parents said while students of all other schools in the state are set to appear for quarterly examinations, their children are forced to wait for classes to start. Officials, meanwhile, confirmed that they are facing a fund crunch.
“We are supposed to get Rs 4.84 crore as grant to run the school per academic year. However, only Rs 30 lakh has been released. This is one reason why we did not start the academic year for new students. For Class 5 to 12 students, classes are being conducted as per schedule,” said K Narsaiah, officer on special duty, TSSS, Hakimpet. “As many as 70 students of the school are suffering from viral fever. A few students have contracted dengue. We want to wait till the situation normalizes so that students are safe,” said Narsaiah, adding that they would ensure that students won’t lose an academic year.