Railways to bring curtains down on education era

HYDERABAD: All the remaining railway schools in the state will be closed from the next academic year or a little later as the Indian Railways proposes to cut expenditure on the education of its employees' children, along with staff amenities.A decade ago, there were 60 railway schools across the state, but now only 11 schools remain. The rest had been closed due to drop in student strength. At present, more than 100 teachers are being paid without any work."The Indian Railways has inherited from the British raj good schools with excellent infrastructure, but that is going to be no more,” said a senior railway official. With the sixth pay commission awarding fee reimbursement of Rs15,000 per student per year and Rs40,000 per student in residential schools, employees are taking their children out of railway schools and admitting them in private institutions where standards are expected to be high. As a result, strength in railway schools dropped drastically, the official said. Railway authorities say it costs less to reimburse fees rather than maintain the schools.Lalaguda railway boys school had 2,200 students in 2002, but now its strength is only 315. The process of closing down the school is already on and there was no enrolment into class 1 since 2008. There are no students in 1st and 2nd and 3rd standards now, and from 2013 there will no class 4 either.“Education is a state subject and the Indian Railways has taken the decision to close all the schools gradually,” the official said. In 2010,  there was a meeting between chief personnel officer, Secunderabad, headmasters of the 11 schools in the state and parents, where the issue was discussed. However, it was decided finally to close the schools as per the Indian Railway's decision," he said.Other railway schools in the state are also facing a similar situation. A school at Nellore has already been closed and the building demolished.According to Lalaguda railway girls school headmistress K Janaki, computers, furniture and other equipment at the schools will be auctioned and teachers who are found to be excess will be transferred to other departments within the railways. Teachers at the railway schools in Secunderabad are in fact counting their days, she said.