Project Akshara is an initiative of faculty, staff, students and alumni of University of Hyderabad (UoH), in which the student volunteers train children of Government schools around the University of Hyderabad in Mathematics, English, sports and other activities. This training ended with a grand finale on March 9, 2014 in the DST auditorium of UoH.
The finale started with a procession of the children, parents, teachers of the three government schools which participated in Project Akshara – Gopanpally Tanda, Gopanpally village and Gopinagar primary schools – and the faculty, staff and student volunteers of HCU from the main gate of HCU to the venue. There were 450 people overall participating in this procession carrying placards that read “Education is our right”, “Protect Government Schools”, “Regulate private schools and oppose commercialization of education”, “Appoint teachers as per the rules of RTE act” and so on. In this context, it should be pointed out that :
1. Under RTE act, the Gopanpally tanda school must have 4 teachers whereas at present, it has only 2 teachers. It is supposed to have 8 rooms but has only 3 functional rooms. The toilet doors are broken and these are unusable. As per the act, there should be separate toilets for girls but this has not been provided.
2. The Gopanpally village school should have 6 teachers as per the RTE act but has only 5 teachers. It has neither a kitchen shed nor a gas connection. Since there is no middle school within 4KM of Gopanpally, there is a demand that this school should be upgraded to a middle school.
3. In Gopinagar, there are 8 teachers whereas as per RTE, there should be 9 teachers. Two additional class rooms are needed. There is water scarcity in this school as the borewell dries up.
There was a cultural fete after the procession, in which the children of all the three schools performed. Using voluntary donations from faculty, students and alumni, the children were given prizes. The Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of UoH addressed the gathering and congratulated the student volunteers for their generous contributions to Project Akshara and urged them to ensure that children retain their passion for learning. Mr. Hameed, JDM, of the Collector’s office attended the function and promised that the collector’s office will do its best to meet the RTE obligations in all the three schools.
For more details may kindly contact Dr. Laxminarayana on 9441219028
9441219028