This Morarji school awaits auspicious launch

 The Morarji Desai Residential School in Peresandra on the outskirts of Chikkaballpur is located in a spacious surroundings of six acres of land.

The Minorities Department runs several Morarji Desai Residential Schools for minorities to provide free residential education from Standards VI to X on a co-education basis. The schools are run through the Karnataka Residential Education Institute Society and the Zilla Panchayats. The selections of the students is done through local advertisements and tests/interviews organized at the district level.

In each district the district officers, Backward Classes and Minorities is the nodal officer. The residential school is Chikkaballapur is provided with all facilities and is recognised as the largest residential school in the taluk. As many as 229 students are studying at present in this school. However, it is yet to be inaugurated formally. Minorities Department officials says that permission is yet to be received for the formal inauguration of the new building.

“Who will inaugurate it and when is something which is yet to be decided. However, this will take place soon”, they say.

Warden of the residential school Manjunath says that the building was constructed within the stipulated time. “Of the 229 students admitted to the school, there are 148 boys and 81 girls and have been provided with separate accommodation. The new building also has separate dining hall and quarters for teaching and non-teaching staff and playground. This the first such spacious school in the taluk.”

Manjunath says that students are selected for this residential school after a test for the fifth standard students. “The students are not only from Chikkaballapur, but also from Chintamani, Bagepalli and Devanahalli taluks. Seventy-five per cent of the students are from the minority community and 25 per cent from other castes and communities”, he says.

Earlier the students accommodated in a rented premises, but this inadequate for the students. As the students were facing difficulties they were shifted to the new building on August 1.

School Principal Shankar says that all the essential teachers and staff are available in the school.