The temples of education that were supposed to uplift the suppressed aspirations of the poor from darkness are themselves plunging into darkness, mostly due to lack of funds and neglect.
A series of incidents of students dying and falling sick in State-run hostels, particularly in rural areas, has sent shock waves among students and parents. These children are from socially and economically backward sections. Some come from lower middle-class backgrounds as well, given the quality and free education assured in the backward classes welfare, scheduled caste welfare, tribal welfare and minority welfare schools and hostels.
Children join these schools with the best academic credentials among peer groups and look up to a bright future with little burden on their parents to support their education, with the Telangana government setting up new residential schools over the last eight years.
