As many as 172 students at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Residential School in Shantigrama, Hassan taluk, are reportedly being forced to live, eat, and attend classes in a cattle shed-like structure, with inadequate sanitation, ventilation, and basic facilities. The shocking conditions have triggered public outrage over the prolonged neglect of students who are entitled to a safe and dignified learning environment.
As per India Today reports, the residential school, operated by the Social Welfare Department, has 92 boys and 80 girls studying in Classes 6 to 10. According to reports, the students have been using the same premises for virtually every aspect of their daily lives, with no adequate separation between classrooms, dining areas, and sleeping arrangements.
The shed reportedly serves as a classroom, dining hall, and sleeping facility, raising serious concerns about the quality of education and living conditions provided to the children. Class 6 students are allegedly being made to sit on the floor during lessons, while poor ventilation and limited natural light further compound the difficulties they face.
The sanitation situation is equally concerning. Reports indicate that only five toilets are available for 92 boys, while the girls are also said to be without adequate basic amenities. Such conditions have raised questions over how a government-run residential institution could continue operating for years without proper infrastructure for its students.
‘Chhatron ki goonj’ in Maharashtra, silence in Karnataka
Congress’s double standards on student issues are hard to ignore. Rahul Gandhi has announced that “Chhatron Ki Goonj” will be held in Maharashtra over student concerns, while the Congress government in Karnataka faces serious questions over the reported plight of 172 students at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Residential School in Hassan. Despite the shocking allegations that students have been forced to use a cattle shed for classes, meals, and sleeping, there is no comparable campaign against the Congress government in Karnataka.
The contrast raises a straightforward question: Is Rahul Gandhi’s concern for students driven by principle or political convenience? Maharashtra has already constituted a high-level committee to comprehensively review its recruitment examination system, yet Congress continues to mobilize politically against the state government. Meanwhile, when students face deprivation under a Congress government in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi and his party appear unwilling to raise their voices. If “Chhatron Ki Goonj” truly means standing with students, that voice must be heard in Karnataka, not only in states where the Congress wants to attack its political opponents.
The matter has now reached the state government, with the Primary and Secondary Education Minister seeking a detailed report on the students’ living conditions and the facilities available at the school. The intervention comes after reports highlighted that the children have endured these conditions for nearly five years.
The Social Welfare Department has stated that a new school building is under construction and claimed that the students were shifted to the cattle shed because no suitable alternative building was available. However, the prolonged period for which students have reportedly been living and studying in such conditions has intensified questions over administrative accountability and the failure to provide them with proper facilities.
Where are Abhijit Dipke and CJP? Selective activism exposed
Where are Abhijit Dipke and CJP when Karnataka’s students are facing such serious safety and infrastructure failures? Just days earlier, six students were injured when part of a classroom ceiling collapsed at a government school in Bagalkot. Reports indicate that the building was already dilapidated and that parents had raised concerns. These are not minor administrative shortcomings; they raise serious questions about the safety, dignity, and basic welfare of children under the Congress-led Karnataka government.
Yet the question remains: where is CJP’s outrage? When BJP-led governments are in power, CJP has often been vocal in demanding accountability, conducting inspections, and publicly highlighting alleged failures. But when similarly disturbing incidents occur under a Congress government in Karnataka, the same urgency appears conspicuously absent. Is accountability supposed to depend on which political party is in power? If CJP genuinely stands for students’ rights and institutional accountability, it cannot selectively speak up against governments it opposes while overlooking serious failures under governments it does not want to confront. The silence over Karnataka deserves scrutiny, and Rahul Gandhi, Abhijit Dipke, and CJP must answer why the same standards are apparently not being applied here.
