HYDERABAD: State-run schools in Telangana have not been sanitised even once since they opened for physical classes in August, raising fears of rapid spread of the coronavirus.
So far, 212 students have already tested positive in 14 separate outbreaks and teachers working in government schools demanded on Tuesday that the government must immediately sanction additional funds for sanitisation of most government institutes if they want to ensure a Covid-free environment.
They said that schools were sanitised once with the help of municipal and gram panchayat workers in the last week of August 2021, before resuming physical classes. Complaining about the situation, M Ravinder, vice-president, Telangana Private Teachers Federation, said, ““At ground level, workers are not cleaning schools.”
There are some 27,000 government schools in Telangana. Every year, Rs 63 crore is sanctioned from Samagra Shiksha as a budget to hire the sanitation staff for all government schools in the state. During the pandemic, no budget was sanctioned. Instead, the state directed the municipal/gram panchayat workers to take care of sanitation.
“About 80% of the schools have not been sanitized after physical classes resumed. Time and again we have requested officials to release funds to hire sanitation workers, but nothing has been done yet. We are forced to function in an unhygienic environment, especially amid the pandemic,” said Chava Ravi, general secretary, Telangana State United Teachers Federation.
Teachers said it would cost about Rs 2,500 per month to hire a sanitation worker and added depending on strength, a school used to have one to five sanitation workers. In a few schools, gram panchayat officials have offered to pay for a sanitation worker instead of sending their staff.
An official from the education department said, “We were informed sanitisation is not being carried out regularly. We will look into it.”
