Tension at Hyderabad school during ABVP bandh call

Tension prevailed at a government school in Hyderabad during an ABVP-led state-wide bandh against school rationalisation plans. Activists stormed the campus, leading to heated exchanges with police and subsequent detentions, while the group demanded policy rollback and fee regulation measures

Hyderabad: High tension prevailed at Government High School Lok Bhavan here on Tuesday during a state-wide school bandh by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) against the state government’s plan to rationalise government and local body schools.

Oblivious to the bandh call, the school reopened as usual and conducted regular classes. This prompted a large number of ABVP activists, including state general secretary Macharla Rambabu, to storm the school. They also questioned the management of the school functioning when several private and corporate schools voluntarily shut due to the bandh call.

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The classrooms witnessed heated exchanges between the ABVP activists and local police, who detained the protesters. However, the ABVP activists alleged that they were detained in a high-handed manner. They alleged that the state government was suppressing democratic protests instead of addressing the concerns raised by students and parents.

The ABVP had called a state-wide school bandh demanding the government withdraw its plans of closing down 23,000 out of 27,000 schools across the state. It also wanted the government to enact a private school fee regulation act and stop schools from fleecing parents with exorbitant fee hikes.

Apart from providing basic infrastructure, the ABVP demanded the government implement the National Education Policy 2020 and extend the provision of the breakfast scheme to all government schools.