On a suo moto PIL (Public Interest Litigation) based on a news report, the Telangana High Court has directed concerned authorities to file a compliance report on deficiencies in two government schools in Hyderabad for visually impaired boys and girls. A bench, on Friday, October 6, also directed them to file a detailed counter in an interlocutory application (IA) within four weeks.

The court appointed senior counsel L Ravichander as amicus curiae to study the conditions prevailing in the two said schools. Accordingly, the amicus curiae visited these schools on September 28 and submitted his report on the subhuman conditions prevailing in the institutions, as per a report by The New Indian Express.

According to the report, the government high school for blind boys at Darushifa, behind the Salar Jung Museum in the Old City, and the government high school for blind girls at Malakpet are in dire straits. The condition of the school in Darushifa is worse as its adjacent hostel building was demolished three years ago, and the students are forced to stay inside their classrooms. "With no new hostel constructed, the children are crammed into two or three classrooms and there is only one washroom for the boys which is located 300 metres from the school," the report said.

Besides the maintenance being very poor, there are no teachers in both schools. "The state government has also not appointed any teachers. There are no caregivers and food is not supplied properly to the students. The children are malnourished and at least 10 per cent of them require immediate medical care. Even Braille kits have not been made available to the students," the report added, as per TNIE.