The fate of 100 young girls hung by a thread when the head of the Telangana Welfare Society in the state’s Ranga Reddy district felt that the residential school which it ran may as well be shut down.
Not only were the results abysmal — the students were failing most of the external examinations — the school itself was in a decrepit condition. Poor hygiene and the infestation of mosquitoes on the grounds meant that students were often sick. The problems of the Telangana Social Welfare Residential School, Gowlidoddi, looked insurmountable.
Still, the head of the Society made one last