People's Democracy

ANDHRA PRADESH

SFI Organises Cycle Jathas Touring Welfare Hostels And Schools

M Venugopala Rao

AN extensive survey conducted by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) on the conditions prevailing in the SC, ST and BC student hostels and residential schools in 960 mandals in Andhra Pradesh brought to light the pathetic and unhygienic conditions prevailing and the serious problems faced by the students in the state. The inadequate allocation of funds by the state government has resulted in the improper maintenance of the hostels and residential schools. 28 jathas were organised all through out the state with cycle yatras for 20 days in each district. 293 activists of the SFI participated in the cycle yatras completely and another 2876 activists participated partially. The survey covered 2356 SC, 507 ST and 1429 BC hostels, 79 ananda nilayas, 263 gurukula, 189 self managed hostels and 504 residential schools. SFI activists stayed along with the students in the hostels and residential schools and studied the conditions prevailing there; saw the difficulties faced by the poor students and the kind of food that was served to them. The cycle yatras covered a distance of nearly thirty thousand kilo meters crossing even hillocks, rivulets and forests. When the jathas reached hostels, the students received them cordially and explained their problems. Happiness was writ large on the faces of the students. The premises and toilets were cleaned and the students were served properly cooked food after the visit of the jathas to the hostels and residential schools. Everywhere the jathas were greeted by the villagers who enquired about the purpose of the visit, appreciated the effort and encouraged them to visit all the hostels.

In the SSC examinations, 93.52 per cent of the students in social welfare schools and 88.36 per cent of the students in tribal welfare schools passed, standing on par with the students in private and other schools in the state. This is despite the negligence and huge delay on the part of the government in giving the text books to the these students in time . The funds for paying the tutors who give tuitions to the students of the seventh and the tenth classes in selected subjects were not released from September 2005 and no directions were given by the authorities for arranging tuition to these students during the current academic year. As a result, the students are denied of the facility of tuitions and those students who can afford are going for private tuitions. The state secretary of SFI, K Hari Kishore, demanded the government to pay the tutors immediately and allocate at least Rs 1000 per month to each tutor. The survey brought to the fore the lack of even basic amenities like drinking water, toilets, bathrooms and own buildings. For example, 136 girls in the BC hostel at Champapet in Hyderabad were forced to take en masse bathing in the only one bathroom provided. The students had to walk more than two kilo meters for attending nature calls in open areas due to lack of toilets and bathrooms. The students suffer from contagious diseases and viral fever regularly because of the unhygienic conditions in the hostels. Though there are directions that doctors should visit the hostels regularly, no medical check up is arranged for the students even once in a year. Only when the hostel students are admitted in hospitals or only when they died, the officers concerned wake up. Medical kits are not provided to the hostels though a sum of one thousand rupees was allocated for this purpose. The survey revealed that 20 hostel students in Adilabad, Warangal and Visakhapatnam districts died, with no preventive and curative medicare provided to them. 

1226 SC hostels and 85 residential schools do not have own buildings. Even the meagre number of own buildings of hostels is in a dilapidated condition with no repairs undertaken, exposing the students to the hazards of collapse and leakage of water into the rooms. Though there is a government order for allocation of Rs 10,000 per annum to the hostel buildings for necessary repairs, no funds have been released during the last five years. With the inadequate accommodation in the hostel buildings students are crammed into rooms and in some hostels even girl students are sleeping in churches in areas like Guntur.

Though the government issued an order in April last increasing the mess charges, it has not been implemented. The food served to the students in hostels is not nutritious; it is bad in quality and insufficient in quantity, leaving the students ill fed and half-starved. The collector of Krishna district has even ordered for reduction in the prescribed quantum of rice. Cosmetic charges to the students have not been increased since 1998, despite steep increase in prices of toiletries. SFI demanded the government to increase the cosmetic charges and release enhanced mess charges. Without filling up vacancies of the posts of cooks, watchmen, helpers and ANMs, the government has permitted private agencies to provide such staff on contract basis. Where such staff are not there, the students are forced to do the work relating to cooking and other chores. In BC hostels for the last five years students have not been given tiffin boxes which should be given to them in the beginning of the academic year. Instead of giving two pairs of stitched clothes to each student, in majority of the districts, only the cloth and inadequate amount towards stitching charges are given to them.

Attempts are being made by the government to reduce the number of hostels under the pretext of non performance and under utilisation. Rules have been framed not to give admission to local students whose residences are situated within a distance of 10 kilo meters from the hostel thereby depriving the students of hostel facility. With the collector of Krishna district issuing orders not to give admission to such local students within a distance of 5 kilo meters, the strength of the students in the district has come down from 15,000 to 10,000. 

Depending on the seriousness of the problems direct action was launched with the participation of students during the SFI cycle yatra. For example, at self managed girls hostel in Warangal, the warden was forced to distribute a sum of Rs 80,000 to the students which he embezzled through corrupt means. The students agitated and succeeded in getting action taken against the owner of the hostel building and the matron of BC girls hostel at Rajole in East Godavari district and against watchmen in BC girls hostel at Tadikonda in Guntur district for harassing the girls. The students caught hold of the wardens in Chittoor district when they were selling away the provisions of the hostels and got them suspended. In Prakasam district, the SFI activists distributed the clothes, boxes, plates and bed sheets from the store rooms to the students concerned. With pressure brought on the officers in Vijayanagaram, they announced to take up repairs of own buildings of hostels within 15 days.

Dharnas with massive student participation were held at the offices of the district collectors on the concluding day of the yatras. The officers tried their best to dissuade the students from participating in the dharnas. The joint collector of Nellore district personally threatened the wardens of hostels that action would be taken against them if students were allowed to participate in the dharnas. On the day of dharna, the collector of Krishna district conducted inspection of the hostels. In Guntur, police arrested the district president of SFI at night when he was returning from campaigning in the hostels for making the dharna the next day successful.In the morning, the district secretary of SFI along with five others was arrested by the police at an other hostel. The police formed 15 teams for arresting student leaders and threatened the students at every hostel. Prohibitory orders were issued not to allow the students to gather in groups at the places of dharna. Despite all these repressive measures, the students participated in the dharnas. The police registered a non-bailable case against the student leaders and sent them to jail for distributing clothes, boxes, plates, glasses and books kept in the store room of a hostel in Nalgonda district to students. SFI warned that the students were ready to teach a lesson to the government if it did not give up such repressive measures and shun its responsibility of proper maintenance of welfare hostels.