Lack of basic amenities mars students' education

Lack of basic infrastructure plagues a majority of hostels in the taluk.

Due to poor maintenance of toilets in the girls’ hostel, students are forced to defecate in the open.

The Department of Social Welfare runs 13 hostels in the taluk. As many as 1,025 students, comprising 700 boys and 425 girls, reside in these hostels. While the Department of Backward Classes has been running six hostels consisting of 200 boys and 103 girl students.

The State government runs several free hostels, maintained by the Department of Social Welfare, to provide education to children coming from families that are below the poverty line.

However, it is saddening to note that the vision of the State government remains unrealised, as most of these hostels lack basic infrastructure.

The women’s government college hostel has 50 students but lacks a proper building, drinking water and toilet facilities.

Students traversing long distances to fetch water in pots is a common sight. As the toilet in the hostel is in a bad state, the girl students are forced to go to the tank bed early in the morning to relieve themselves.

Lack of basic infrastructure and ill-maintained toilets have had a detrimental effect on the enrolment of girl students to hostels. The state of Morarji hostels are no exception to this. 

For as many as 146 students there is only one toilet. Moreover that toilet too is in a pathetic state and cannot be used, thus, forcing students to defecate in open places.

The solar water heater facility made available at the hostel too has broken down. As a result students have to take bath in cold water. In addition to infrastructure problems, the recent suicide of Channamma, due to alleged harassment by the warden, has created panic among the students in the taluk.

“The officers should wake up to the situation and provide basic amenities to the hostels. Also, those responsible for Channamma’s death should be arrested immediately and the victim’s family should be duly compensated,” said members of Taluk Dalit Simha Sene, DSS and Renuka Yellamma Samudaya.