Services of sports coaches in Social Welfare Residential Schools discontinued by Telangana govt

For the past several years, these sports coaches have been pillars of the academies, transforming raw and young talent into top-notch performers

Hyderabad: Having produced several international and national players from marginalized sections in the last one decade, the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TGSWREIS) sports academies are now facing crisis, courtesy, the Congress government discontinuing services of all sports coaches in academies run by the society.

For the past several years, these sports coaches have been pillars of the academies, transforming raw and young talent into top-notch performers. Their training and expertise guided several young athletes to success, earning medals on the national and global stage and bringing laurels to the state and the country.

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The society runs 28 sports academies, which have been established by the previous BRS government for creating elite athletes from the marginalized and downtrodden sections. These academies employed 35 coaches on a honorarium basis.

In a memo, the TGSWREIS recently directed its principals to discontinue any non-regular staff working in the category of part-time/additional staff including staff on honorarium basis with immediate effect. Now, without these sports coaches, not only the academies face the threat of closure but also cast a shadow on young students’ careers.

Majority students who enrolled into these academies after rigorous examinations are from the marginalized communities, whose parents work as daily wage labourers, autorickshaw drivers, beedi rollers and vegetable sellers.

Lavanya from Kamareddy district is one such student and daughter of vegetable seller who is undergoing training in wrestling and already bagged two silver medals at national level and three gold medals at the state level.

“I never knew the importance of sports until I joined the academy. My coaches played a vital role in my success. If academies are discontinued, our career will be stopped in the middle,” she said.

Another wrestler Pranitha said despite not receiving enough support from her parents she went ahead with help of her coach Priyanka and bagged a gold medal at national level.

“We want our academies to continue,” she said.

One of the coaches said the government must immediately reconsider the decision to discontinue services of the coaches. “We have been selecting students young and raw, and creating them into international and national players every year. We want the government to take back us,” the coach added.

Meanwhile, the agitating faculty members staged a protest at the office of Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society after its secretary Alugu Varshini reportedly declined their request for a meeting. They went to meet her to submit a representation, appealing the State government to pay their three months salary and reinstate them by continuing their contracts for the rest of the nine months of the academic year.

The faculty members have been attempting to meet the society secretary for last couple of days, but in vain. Irked over the ill treatment, they sat down for a demonstration at Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Sankshema Bhavan at Masab Tank here on Thursday.