School sans students soon to be shut down?

BANGALORE: Have you ever come across two schools standing a few metres away from each other in a backward locality in Bangalore? If not, visit Dayanandanagar in Rajajinagar Assembly constituency where a government school as well as a Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) school are located a few metres away from each other.The result — one of them is on the verge of closing down.The BBMP Girls High School, that has vast premises, is facing the threat of shutting down, not due to the shortage of teachers or infrastructure facilities but the lack of students.Till recently, the high school was a haven for the girls of Dayanandanagar and other localities, where they could study up to class ten in the SSLC syllabus.However, the number of girls started dwindling.“The school had 50 students last year.Now, the number of students has come down to 28,” says B S Gaviraj, headmaster, BBMP Girls High School.The empty benches make teachers a little bit disappointed while taking classes.“I have been here for the last five years.Earlier, the classrooms were filled with students.Now, it is disappointing to see only a few students attending classes,” says a teacher on the condition of anonymity.The school has 10 students pursuing SSLC and among them some are absent on a regular basis.“We have tried our best to create awareness among the students in the surrounding areas.We have distributed pamphlets advising the girls to join the school, but it has fallen on deaf ears,” says the headmaster.Meanwhile, K Ramesh Raju, chairman, standing committee on education, BBMP, has expressed displeasure over the lack of students in this school.“We visited the school and advised the headmaster and teachers to take up door to door campaign, explaining the facilities at this school and distribute pamphlets in Dayanandanagar and other areas,” said Ramesh Raju.Many opine that providing co-education facility would be the best option to get more students.It was said the headmaster had requested the BBMP authorities to introduce co-education in this school.The education officer of the BBMP gave his consent to introduce coeducation in this school on June 30, 2011 (No.Edn(4) PAR:15/10-11), almost one month after school admissions were over.“We did not introduce co-education as per the BBMP’s directive since it was too late.We are planning to organise awareness programmes about the facilities in this school during summer vacation,” explains the headmaster.Shakeela Muniraju, corporator from Dayanandanagar, had expressed her displeasure over the lack of students.“There is a proposal to merge the school with other BBMP schools if the introduction of co-education fails to attract more students.I am not happy with the staff who are not taking their profession seriously,” fumes Shakeela.