Visakhapatnam: In spite of rule making it mandatory to have a playground or municipal park for physical activities and sports during school hours if not a permanent playground, a majority of schools in Vizag, some of which are corporate schools which charge heavy fees, have no such facility.
Paying no heed to the government’s orders and in a clear violation of RTE Act, many private schools and a few government schools are doing nothing to ensure that students get to enjoy the joys of childhood like playing with school friends.
The city has more than 400 private schools of which around 70 per cent do not have playgrounds and when it comes to the district level, according to a 2011-2012 report released by District Information System for Education just 48.9 per cent schools have playgrounds.
While some of the schools with no playground are seen taking the children during school hours to nearby parks or playground, most of them still confine the kids to classrooms, some of which are nothing more than apartment buildings, for more than seven hours.
Deputy education officer, C.V. Renuka, said teams formed soon to conduct inspections and by March 2014 action will be taken against many RTE Act violators.
Bal Vikas Foundation founder Narava Prakash Rao called for strict implementation of the rule and crackdown by education department.
