However, the steps leading down to the school are either broken or uneven.

A public ground is being established alongside and the construction material is taking up a lot of space on the school’s playground. Iron rods, sharp stones, cement bags are kept on the premises and the children have to really watch where they are walking to avoid being injured.

There is a deep pit behind the school building. However, neither is it cordoned off nor are there any warning signboards and this can prove fatal.

There are urinals outside the building and the place gives a foul smell as it is not cleaned properly.

However, all this does not seem to bother the principal, KV Venkat Reddy, much. “I do not have a problem with the infrastructure within the school building,” he says.

The teacher-student ratio is, nevertheless, a perennial problem. The school has one Kannada-medium section from classes VIII to X. In 2009-10, it had 104 students with one permanent teacher and five outsourced ones.

This is far less than what the principal wants. “I require five permanent teachers, one each for history and geography, Kannada, Hindi, biology and physical education,” he says.

The school can take in 150 students.

However, students prefer going to the private institutions in the area rather than studying in the corporation school, according to the principal.

The results have dipped, with only nine out of 26 students (35 per cent) passing the SSLC examination in 2009- 10, compared with the 51.51 per cent last year. The reasons include the lack of interest and the Tamil and Telugu background of the students.

“The pit behind the school is for rainwater harvesting,” says Manjunath Raj, the councillor of the Kadu Malleshwar ward.

“We are also looking at adding a floor to the school building to accommodate more students. The construction will take nine months. When one builds a house, the construction material is kept on the premises itself. The same goes for the school. The construction material is kept on the school compound,” he says.

“I am aware that the steps leading down to the school are dangerous as they are old and have worn out with time. This shall be renovated,” says the councillor.

In a letter to the PMC, Samiti president Vijay Kumbhar alleged that the education board has continued with the tradition of delaying the distribution of school equipment at the start of the civic schools. “The school board has continued its tradition of not providing the school equipment including the uniforms at the start of the school. Despite the schools opening this week, the school board has not given the work order of the stitching the uniforms,” Kumbhar said.

In the letter addressed to Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zagade, Kumbhar said, “The same school board had rushed to the high court for the removal of control of civic administration from its day-to-day functioning, despite the civic body providing all the funds to the school board.”