Bhumi puja for integrated residential schools on October 11 as Dussehra gift: Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka 

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The exercise to start Young India Integrated Residential School campuses in various parts of Telangana to take off soon.

Bhumi puja (ground breaking ceremony) for the campuses of 18 integrated residential schools, spread over sprawling 20 to 25 acres providing ample space for education and extra curricular activities, will be performed on October 11, a day before Vijayadasami.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka described the initiative as Dussehra gift to students and their parents and exhorted the people to get their children admitted into these residential schools for high quality education.

Each of these English medium residential schools upto Class XII will be net zero campuses harnessing wind and solar energies and will have an intake of 2,560 students and 120 teaching staff. “The schools are sure to become role model for the country,” Mr. Bhatti Vikramarka said.

Explaining the salient features of the new residential schools on Sunday (October 6, 2024) he said their architectural design was based on sustainability and inclusivity with climate response planning. The designs with rain water harvesting systems would comply with global standards for differently abled students ensuring that no one was left behind.

The Government had directed the officials concerned to identify suitable locations, at least one in each constituency, and expedite works on the construction of the new campuses. Preliminary work had been completed in more than 20 constituencies as of now and more schools would be added in phases as and when the identification of locations was completed.

He said a committee of senior officials from different Departments, especially Welfare Departments, was constituted to supervise the entire exercise for bringing the idea of integrated residential schools into a proper shape. “Months of exercise went the announcement of Bhumi puja,” he said. He lamented how the previous Government had left the residential schools to their fate without focussing on providing basic amenities in them. There were no toilets and steps were not taken to make proper sleeping arrangements for the inmates.

Of the 1,023 residential schools started by the previous Government, 662 had no buildings of their own. These included 306 of the 327 schools for backward classes, 135 of the 265 schools for Scheduled Castes, 42 of the 185 for Scheduled Tribes and 179 of the 205 schools set up for minorities. Coupled with this was the absence of the teaching infrastructure including teachers.

The Congress Government had therefore allocated ₹5,000 crore for integrated residential schools in the current budget indicating its commitment to students. “Compare this with ₹73 crore spent by the previous Government in one year,” he said.

The Government had factored in all aspects in the designs of the new residential campuses where students could stay and learn as a family cutting across caste and religious lines. The concept of integrated schools reflected the Government’s commitment to uplift weaker sections and they would provide children from disadvantaged communities the same facilities and learning environments available in the elite institutions.

“We aim to foster a competitive spirit among students equipping them with confidence and skills to compete globally,” he said. Ministers Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Ponnam Prabhakar recalled the spree of complaints they received from students of these schools and their parents about the absence of basic amenities and said the Congress Government had proved its commitment for the cause of the downtrodden sections. Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari and senior officials were present.