Student electrocuted at short-staffed ZP school with only two helpers for 280 students; officials respond

The Zilla Parishad high school at Anasagaram village in Nandigama mandal of Krishna district has only two helpers for its upkeep though it has a student strength of about 280.

D Gopi Charan, a class X student, was electrocuted while cleaning the water tank on Wednesday. The school authorities had maintained that some students used to show keenness to clean the tank though they were not asked to do it. It was unfortunate that Gopi accidentally came in contact with the overhead power cables and got electrocuted, they said.

It came to light that the authorities of ZP school submitted petitions at Spandana and other grievance redressal programmes in 2018 and 2019 for the removal of 11 KV power cables passing over it. “However, there has been no response from the electricity department to the petitions submitted earlier,’’ school sources said.

R Narasimha Rao, Regional Joint Director (RJD), Kakinada, inspected the school on Thursday to probe the incident. School headmistress Padmavathi was suspended. The inquiry report will be submitted to School Education Minister Audimulapu Suresh, recommending action against those responsible for the incident, the RJD said.

Speaking to TNIE, Municipal Teachers Federation president S Ramakrishna said paucity of funds to hire more workers for the upkeep of school premises, was one of the reasons for the tragic incident at the ZP school. Same is the situation at several ZP schools in Krishna district. “Though the State government is collecting `1,000 from each student from the aid given to beneficiaries under the Amma Vodi scheme, adequate funds are not being allocated to schools for upkeep,’’ he said.