Telangana: Students, parents protest against closure of school for visually challenged 

On Monday, January 9, the students of a private school for the visually challenged, run by the Development and Welfare Association of the Blind (DWAB), staged a dharna in front of the Collectorate in Nalgonda, Telangana. The protest was against the management's decision to close the institution which has been there for over 25 years. The students and parents who are protesting said that around 72 students are studying in the school from Classes I to X. They say, "This sudden decision to close the school and lease the building to someone else will jeopardise the future of students," stated a report by The New Indian Express.

The parents and students also questioned, "How can the management lease out the building that was constructed for the sake of blind students with donations collected from NRIs and other donors."

"The government should immediately respond to this issue. It should take over the building and run a government school for visually challenged students from the same premises," they said, seeking the intervention of the government in the matter, stated The New Indian Express report.

The students and the parents have submitted a memorandum to the collector and distributed copies of the same to district officials. 

According to General Secretary Chokka Rao of DWAB, the decision to close the school is because of the lack of funds. He said, "We have been facing financial issues for quite some now. The government has not released funds to run the school. We have taken loans from private finance companies to run the school," stated the report by The New Indian Express.