MCD’s schools for scandal out in the open

Porta cabins housing MCD schools

Rashi Agarwal

Last Updated : 01 Apr 2012 08:08:58 AM IST

NEW DELHI: For over a decade, the MCD is trying to get its students out of tents and into permanent classrooms. A report through an RTI paints a shameful picture where, out of 1,233, 196 schools still operate under tent and semi-tent structures.

Even after Rs 1400 crore was allocated for primary education in 2011-2012, there’s little change out there. An MCD school principal explains the plight, speaking to Sunday Standard on the condition of anonymity. “Dozens of schools in Delhi are run in tents, where students sit on the ground. During summers, it’s impossible to sit under the sun, far less study. Students can hardly concentrate,” the principal said. She adds: “The number of students coming to school reduces during the summers and winters. Even if they do, it’s only for the mid-day meal.”

Advocate Ashok Aggarwal, who’s been working on this issue, says the government is playing with the future of nearly two lakh students in the city. “Courts have repeatedly giving orders. The case has been in courts for the past 13-14 years. Money is allocated for education, but is going to the pockets of wrong people. The government is not interested in the children’s education,” he says.

According to Mahender Nagpal, MCD’s education committee chairman, by 2014 all MCD schools will have pukka buildings with classrooms and other facilities. “We’ve started constructing new buildings. Hopefully, by the end of 2014, every child will study in proper classrooms,” Nagpal said. He added: “MCD is also working for all-round development of students, and is also developing playgrounds for them.”

Social activists think there’s hardly been any change. “Every time the government promises change, nothing happens. In the soon-to-be-held MCD polls too, several candidates have proposed changes in the school system. The truth is, governments don’t think of less-privileged people,” says activist Dhananjay Tingal. “The government allocates crores each year to improve primary education in Delhi. If even then, children are studying in the open, it’s shameful,” said another activist Priya Subramaniam. She adds, “If this is the situation of government schools in the NCR, I’m sure it would worse in the villages.”

Referring to the Delhi High Court order rapping the government for running tent schools during winters, Bharti Ali, co-director of HAQ—Centre for Child Rights, says: “To escape winters, the court asked the government to put up porta cabins. But now in the summers, how will the kids study inside a hot cabin? Is this the place where we’ll find the future of India?” she asked.



Source: The Sunday Standard