ZPHS Bajumallaigudem in Khammam turns into night shelter for drunkards

This school, established over four decades ago, is the second high school in Singareni mandal, which falls under the Wyra Assembly constituency. It serves students from over a dozen villages across Singareni, Kamepally, Enkoor, and Julurpadu mandals.

Khammam: Every morning, teachers at the Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) in Bajumallaigudem, Khammam district, are forced to begin their day not with the school prayer. Instead, they clear leftover liquor bottles, cake pieces, and garbage strewn across the campus — remnants of yet another night of trespassing.

Despite being a crucial educational institution for nearly 80 students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, the school has virtually become a free-for-all space for anti-social activities. Located outside village limits and lacking a compound wall, the school ground has turned into a night-time hub for local youth to consume alcohol, celebrate birthdays, and indulge in mischief, with little to no monitoring by authorities.

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This school, established over four decades ago, is the second high school in Singareni mandal, which falls under the Wyra Assembly constituency. It serves students from over a dozen villages across Singareni, Kamepally, Enkoor, and Julurpadu mandals.

Now, what should be a place of learning now doubles as a shelter for drunkards after hours. “It seems there was a birthday party last night in the school grounds. We had to clean the leftover cake pieces and garbage before taking classes. This is almost a daily routine for us,” said headmaster M Venumadhav Rao.

The situation has become particularly concerning for girl students, as former student Suresh pointed out. “Even during school hours, some youngsters storm in on motorcycles, play loud music on mobile phones and disrupt classes,” he said.

Adding to the school’s woes, vegetables grown in its garden are often stolen, while water taps have been damaged, and a submersible pump was stolen from the borewell two years ago. Though a police complaint was filed, it yielded no result.

Rao said a proposal for constructing a compound wall was submitted long ago, but there has been no progress. With the grounds spanning five acres, the estimated cost for the wall is around Rs. 35 lakh.

Suresh recalled how, in the 1970s, village elder Pothula Narayana took the initiative to upgrade the village’s primary school to an upper primary school. In 1983, efforts by the then parents’ committee chairman Maloth Tavirya, member Basva Laxmi Narayana, and UPS headmaster K Venkateshwarulu helped convert it into a high school.

“Hundreds of students who studied here have excelled despite the odds. The school has all the infrastructure needed to be developed into an Integrated Concept School. The State government should consider upgrading it,” Suresh added.