Miffed by dilapidated classrooms, parents build makeshift tents

Belagavi: A large number of students and their parents demonstrated at a government primary school at Muddenuru village in Ramadurga taluk against the deteriorating condition of the school building.
Even as the school reopened on Monday, students and parents were dismayed to see nine of the 11 classrooms in this government school in poor condition. The walls and windows of the school have developed cracks. Parents refused to allow their children to enter the dilapidated classrooms.
Villagers have built some tents on the school grounds and demanded that teachers teach their children in these tents until the classrooms are repaired. They demanded that BEO and other education department officers visit the school to assess the situation.
When BEO MR Alase went to the school, some parents blocked his car and took him to task for not repairing the school building despite getting several memorandums. They demanded that the school building be repaired on priority.
Tahsildar Mallikarjun Heggannavar, who rushed to the village, tried to calm the parents down. After hearing the concerns of the villagers, he promised to allocate Rs 15 lakh from the MLA local area development fund and the GP fund to prioritise the development and repair of all dilapidated classrooms.
“We will begin repairing classrooms tomorrow and finish as soon as possible. Teachers have been directed to hold classes in tents built by villagers on the school grounds for one or two days until proper arrangements can be made,” he said.
School president Muttanna Kumbar said that nearly 400 children study in the school. “Many of the schools don’t even have proper roofs. We have submitted several memorandums to the BEO, DDPI, and the education minister in the last six months, but no action has been taken to repair the building. Hence parents and villagers decided to protest,” he said
Ramadurga BEO MR Alase said that the repair works were not taken up due to various reasons. “We will soon initiate the works,” he added. After the protesting parents dispersed, teachers took classes in the tents on the school premises.