Belagavi, 22 July

A private girl’s school has been running inside a government schools building in Tilakwadi, Belagavi since the start of the current academic year.

The private Marathi medium school, Aadarsha Balika Vidyalaya Mahila Sanghatane, has been using eight of the ten rooms of the government school. The government school reportedly allowed Balika Vidyalaya to use its classrooms as it had a small number of students.

The government school, established 108 years ago, has 33 students while the private school has about 900 girl students.

Surprisingly, to facilitate the private school, the education department changed the timing of government school from 8am to 11am.

Belagavi Deputy Director of Public Instructions (DDPI) Leelavati Hiremath said that the building was given to the private school based on the resolution passed unanimously by the school management committee and official approval of legislators Abhay Patil and Asif Sait representing south and north assembly constituencies, respectively.

BJP MLA Patil said that the Mahila Sanghatane shifted to the government school as there was construction work going on in its building. "Myself and MLA Sait were unaware about changed timing of the government school students," Patil added.

Congress legislator Sait said even though the school didn’t fall in his jurisdiction, he gave his consent to run the private school in government building. "Eight blocks remained unused for a low strength in the government school," Sait justified.