Girls and boys will be segregated at the New Delhi Municipal Council’s new libraries meant for students of its schools, most of which are co-educational.
The NDMC’s budget for 2015-2016 contains the proposal for four new libraries-cum-reading rooms – two each for girls and boys.
While presenting the budget earlier this week, NDMC chairperson Jalaj Srivastava said the facilities would come up at four locations and would function beyond school hours as well as on weekends.
“This will not only provide the students with an enabling environment to pursue activities, but will also help them prepare for various competitive examinations,” said Mr. Srivastava in his speech.
The budget also proposed “to set up a state-of-the-art technical institute for boys, on the lines of Indian Technical Institutes, for job-oriented skill development”.
NDMC Education Department director Vidushi Chaturvedi said the proposal to set up separate libraries for girls and boys was with the aim of “creating safe and enabling spaces for girls to study”.
On technical institute for boys, Ms. Chaturvedi said skills needed in the hospitality and tourism industries will be taught to students of Class VIII to Class XII.
“Some of the students at our boys’ schools are susceptible to social evils so we wanted to make sure that they have the opportunity to learn new skills and not drop-out,” she said. The NDMC already runs a similar institute for women, where they are taught to drive among other skills.
Activist and secretary of the All-India Progressive Women’s Association Kavita Krishnan said to have separate libraries for boys and girls was “bizarre”.
“This is not realistic, because in life, at work and in relationships, girls and boys will be together,” said Ms. Krishnan.
Proposal aims at “creating safe and enabling spaces for girls to study”
