Private Schools

Private schools protest

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : Private school managements are crying foul over the sealing and locking of ‘unrecognised’ school premises by education authorities. Around 100 schools out of the 118 listed as unrecognised were sealed by the district educational officer (DEO) and other officials. The managements alleged that the schools remained unrecognised because of large scale corruption in various government departments from where certificates regarding fire safety, sanitation and traffic needed to be obtained.

The managements complained that many schools were still running without being caught even after collector’s orders. They alleged that in the name of action against unrecognised schools, several recognised schools had also been sealed. Abdul Rahman Siddiqui of Samsam Memorial School in Bandlaguda mandal said that the high school was registered with validity up to 2018, but the play school in the premises was not. He alleged that officials from Bahadurpura regional office deliberately included his school’s name and sealed it.

He claimed that every person in the office of DEO and Regional Joint Director asked for bribes to move files. He said, “Bribe is fixed for various certificates. For fire safety, Rs 50,000 is asked, for sanitation Rs 8,000 and for a traffic certificate Rs 25,000 and these rates may be hiked depending upon the officers.” He said that the academic future of hundreds of students would be jeopardised because of the sealing.

Private schools say even government schools not following rules

Dinesh Jaiswal of Rosey School in Begum Bazar said that several schools which were flouting norms and were still running. He said that officials were cracking the whip only on small schools and that bigwigs in the sector were spared. Many representatives of sealed schools were seen running from pillar to post to put their case in front of the Collector and DEO. The school managements were told to apply for the reopening of the schools by paying all the necessary fees.

A representative of Sri Krishnaveni School in Jiaguda, R Ramesh said that he had applied for the permission last year, but was unable to bear the bribery charges officials were collecting apart from the actual amount. He said that he implements RTE act in his school and provides education to the poor.

Private school managements said that though the government had set up strict rules for opening a school, they were not even followed by any government school. Suhail Safi Ismael of Moses School said that if authorities showed even a single example of ideal school, then he would definitely toe the same lines. He said that private schools were far better than government schools when it came to facilities, infrastructure and education as well.

Ramzan

Chandi ka Waraq

Chandi ka waraq sales gaining momentum

Metro News/ Hyderabad : The sound of uneven hammering in some shops near Charminar attracts several visitors but no one can understand what really is going on until they ask the shop keeper. These sounds in these shops of Chandi Ka Waraq (Silver Paper) would gain more speed in Ramzan month. With the beginning of Ramzan the workers in these shops seem to be busy. An old Kaarigar (worker of making this silver paper) Mohammed Akbar said that they get the material (Silver Bricks) from Delhi and make slices of it and then cut it into 2 cm pieces and would put it in a specially made German paper.

The tools that are used include a hammer, a wrapper and a finely cut stone

After properly wrapping these pieces, workers start beating and that’s how a silver paper of a size of Pass Port is made. Akbar said, “Kaarigar need to beat for three hours to make one pack of papers consisting around 250 pieces.” These are sold at the rate of Rs 3 per piece and people buy it according to their need. The tools that are used include a hammer, a wrapper and a finely cut stone. Some buy it for Daawat, some buy for sweets but most of customers for them are sweet shop owners, said Akbar. He said that due to some misleading reports on these silver papers, their sales came down and people are now using machine made papers.

Ali Bin Abdul Khader, owner of a Charminar Waraq Shop, adjacent to Mecca Masjid said, “Though season for us is Deepavali, we do good business in the month of Ramzan. The sale of Waraq (Silver Paper) increases in Ramzan month.” He said that in Ramzan month it is used to cover high quality Khajoor (Dates) and vendors buy it. It is used for wrapping sweet paan and to cover several other sweet delicacies in Hyderabad for decades. Abdul Khader said, “Most of the people use it just to show the ‘silver lining’.” He said that his shop was running for last fifty years and it was their family business.

From Charminar to Shah Ali Banda there are around 7 such shops where workers can be seen beating on a booklet type wrapper to prepare a thin layer of silver. Several shops also make Gold Papers which are sold at the rate of Rs 90 per piece. Abdul Khader said that Hakeems (Unani Doctors) buy these papers for preparing several medicines. A bundle of 500 pieces is sold at Rs 320 and bundles of Rs 60 and Rs 150 are also available. A Paan Shop owner at Royal Sea Hotel near Income Tax towers Mohammed Jeelani said that he uses this thin layer of silver for special Paans and it attracts our customers.

Sultan Bazar Boys School

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : A city school which is nearly 150 years old and an alma mater to several eminent persons, including a renowned mathematician, a former president and a chief minister, as well as a host of judges of the high court, would normally acquire heritage status. Alas! The Sultan Bazar High School is not so lucky or well- connected. Hence, it is a picture of utter neglect today.

The Sultan Bazar High School has a glorious past. It was among the few schools that offered education in five media. Several illustrious sons of the soil had their early education in the school, including former president Zakir Hussain, former AP Chief Minister T Anjaiah, children of former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, mathematician Babaiah Naidu, present DGP of Karnataka Lalrokhuma Pachau and several judges of the AP High Court. Yet, the institution has been ignored over the years so much so that it is now on the verge of collapse. 

Well-meaning sections have been highlighting the need to renovate the school and sustain it for the present and coming generations. SU Sivaramprasad, currently in charge of the school, points out that in the past education was imparted in Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu and English media for children belonging to differing cultural backgrounds. 
Once considered as the best school in the city, the Sultan Bazar High School is now in shambles as successive governments have not cared for it, he bemoans. Much of the land belonging to the school has been encroached, with the institution’s sprawling premises being reduced to a few yards.

the government should bring back the glory of this school and restore the old structure

Established in the year 1866, before the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, the school has a unique history. It was the first school in Hyderabad to offer education in five different media with contributions from the local communities and the then Asaf Jahi government. It was established under the supervision of the Nizam Education Trust for educating the children of people belonging to various communities settled in Hyderabad, especially those who had come from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Iran and Turkey. A clock tower was arranged on the campus for facilitating punctuality among students. Even that is in a state of neglect now.

Once abuzz with a large number of students, the strength of school has now dwindled to 106. The school has competent faculty, but the lack of proper infrastructure is deterring even students from poor families to get enrolled in the school. According to staff members, all government-run schemes are being implemented here, though no one is concerned about the building. As it is considered Grade 1 (oldest ones) school, no permanent headmaster is appointed. School staff members say that the results of SSC for past three years, at over 60%, have been encouraging. Referring to the present government’s promise to strengthen government-run schools, Sivaramprasad says that the government should bring back the glory of this school and restore the old structure.

Bone of Contention IIT Bombay

TOP RANKERS EYE BOMBAY IIT

Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : A majority of the top rankers of IIT JEE 2014 expressed their wish to join the IIT Bombay campus and choose the Computer Science stream. All-India second ranker and topper from Telangana state Sai Chetan said that he would be opting for Computer Science at IIT Bombay. He said that he was interested in research. Ravuru Lohit, who secured fourth rank, also said that he would also choose computer science stream in IIT Bombay.

His father R Suresh, a former Air Force employee, said that as there were good opportunities in the corporate sector. Ninth ranker N Pavan Kumar also echoed the thoughts of the aforementioned duo and said that he too would choose IIT Bombay. Another student Rakesh Naik, who secured the second rank in ST category, said that he was also interested in computer science and stated that Bombay as his preferred destination. The son of a farmer from Puttaparthi mandal of Anantapur, he however expressed his desire to become an IAS officer in the future.

On the other hand, Potluri Vachandeep, who secured 129th rank, said that he was very much interested in Mechanical Engineering and would like to join this stream at the IIT Bombay campus. When the students were asked about their future plans with respect to serving the nation, almost all the students said that did not have any idea. However, most of the students said that they would plan for their future so that their talent would be useful for the development of the country.

There are 16 IITs in the country among which Bombay, Roorkee, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Madras campuses are the most sought after. IIT Bombay is the preferred destination for Computer Science stream.

A Tale of Dawat

The Telangana

With the formation of a new state of Telangana the sixty years dream of the people come true and a new era has been started in the southren part of India. The state was carved out of Andhra Pradesh formed in 1956 after the state reorganization commission' recommendations. Though the announcement for the bifurcation of the state was announced much earlier but the actual date of state formation was decided to be June 2, 2014.

When we look back at the history of the separate Telangana state it reveals a bloody side of the movement with the suppressible attitude of the consecutive governments ruling the region and the reluctance of central government towards such an important issue for sixty long years.

Discrimination played the major and vital role in igniting the Telangana sentiment these years. Moreover the political parties dominated by Seemandhra leaderships always shown their arrogance towards the issue.

The Andhra leaders here behaved like the colonials and looted the resources and funds generated by them from the Telangana. They suppressed the 1969 Jai Telangana movement by using some opportunistic leaders. As many as 300 students were killed during that movement in just police firing.

It was another Jalianwala Bagh in the independent India. But they could not suppress the desire for separate state of Telangana alive in the hearts of people. When it was started again in 2001 with the formation of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) the movement’s pace was very low.

TRS leadership convinced the people to vote for them so that a political pressure can be made upon the centre but it could not succeed. Rather TRS was made the part of the governments that were against the formation of Telangana.

Again in 2009 it was a fully student movement driven by media. Though started by TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao, present CM of Telangana, it was carried forward by the students, student groups, social and civil society members, NGOs and other organizations.

From 2009 the movement for separate state was run by full energy and enthusiasm but the lowest point of this agitation in my view was the suicide attempts made by the students especially the poor students.

However every suicide attempt gave a galvanizing effected and ignited the Telangana sentiment with full energy and the movement sustained the authoritarian aggression of both state and central governments.

The Telangana was ignored existence just because the one reason that the majority of the population in the region is comprised of backward communities, Tribals, scheduled tribes and Muslims. It was the part of erstwhile princely state of Deccan ruled by AsafJahi dynasty and Qutub Shahi kingdom earlier than that. 

The dominated classes of Seemandhra did not want to see the state full of resources in the hands of these communities. Now as the Telangana has been formed let us hope that a peaceful and affectionate atmosphere among all the communities will prevail and people of Telangana will have their resources in their possession for the development of the newly formed state.