Hyderabad: The students of Mufeed ul Anam Boys High School have been facing health issues and difficulties caused by garbage lying in front of the school, on the main road, as government officials obstruct any action taken by the school, to ease troubles.
The school with historic value lies in between a transformer on one side, a garbage dump, and an open toilet on the other. The toilet constructed right outside the school as a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, even as the management objected to it, completely defies its purpose.
The school has been writing letters to the GHMC since 2003, requesting the removal of the dump, but so far not much action has been taken. Students enter the school through the scattered garbage, which is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies, giving rise to diseases. Although the garbage disposed is cleared up everyday, it has no impact as people over look the notice to not litter in the area.
A number of parents have complained to the school after their children fell sick, following which the school decided to take action on their own. “We had constructed a boundary wall, about a foot tall, on either side to ensure that garbage stays to one side and does not scatter in front of the gate,” said the school headmistress, Rama Devi, expressing her concerns to Siasat.com.
The boundary wall stood for two days before officials knocked it down, claiming that the land does not belong to them. “We didn’t want to give up, so we resorted to another method. We made arrangements to plant saplings and trees, in the same area, before officials objected to this act as well,” she added.
“It causes us a lot of difficulties. We have to walk into the school through the garbage and it stinks throughout the day,” said a grade 10 student, Sheikh Rizwan. “We feel nauseous walking through the garbage and students fall ill too,” added his classmate, Sajid Ali.
“The health of students and the staff are our responsibility so we take initiatives on our own. We sanitize the school with funds donated by alumni, a few well-to-do parents, and the staff. The initiatives we took to ease difficulties created by the garbage, were also funded by us.” added Rama Devi.
When this reporter questioned the Deputy Commissioner GHMC, Charminar, SN Suryakumar, he promised to look into the matter, while asking the school to make arrangements themselves.
Area Corporator Sohail Quadri, who has been made aware of the issues faced by the school on various occasions, remained unavailable for a comment.
The Government aided school in Old city’s Alijah Kotla has been running for a hundred and forty years under the Brahma Kshatriya Mufeed Ul Anam Educational Society, providing education to the children of the less fortunate strata of the society.
