North-east Delhi has just one school for nearly 2,800 students

In the national capital’s North East district, there are just 48 schools for 1,32,607 students

Packed beyond capacity: Children return home from school in Shiv Vihar in Delhi’s North East district. | Photo Credit: File Photo

The Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) recently disclosed that in the national capital’s North East district, 48 schools are operating out of 24 buildings, which are being used to accommodate 1,32,607 students. In other words, the Delhi government has one school for nearly 2,763 students in the district.

Not surprisingly, the school administrators are finding it tough to make space for the students despite running morning and evening shifts and, in some cases, going to the extent of converting offices, libraries, staff rooms, laboratories, etc., into classrooms.

The DoE shared the information in an affidavit filed on February 16 before the Delhi High Court, which is hearing a petition by NGO Social Jurist on the issue of overcrowded government schools in North East district.

‘Significant influx’

In its affidavit, the DoE said the district, which in 2020 had witnessed one of Delhi’s worst communal violence in decades, is the most populated not just in the Capital but across Southeast Asia.

“Further, the COVID period has added woes to the situation because a large number of students from public schools have taken admission in government schools due to financial problems,” the Education Department said.

It also said the proximity of the district to the Uttar Pradesh border leads to a significant influx of students from migrant families seeking education in Delhi government schools.

Advocate Ashok Aggarwal, representing the NGO, had earlier told the High Court that the enrolment of students in the district’s government schools is unsustainably high, especially at schools located in Khajoori Khas, Tukhmirpur, Sonia Vihar, Sabhapur, and Karawal Nagar.

Mr. Aggarwal also claimed that the students in the area are being forced to study in schools offering only two hours of education per day.

Alarming situation: HC

The High Court had, while hearing the plea in December last year, observed, “This is an alarming situation as young children are deprived of proper education due to the lack of proper infrastructure and facilities.”

The court had said it could not tolerate such a state of affairs and ordered the Delhi government to file an affidavit “clearly specifying” how the students in these schools could be imparted full-time formal education.

Immediate solution

In the affidavit filed in response to the court order, the DoE has proposed to convert facilities such as drawing rooms, libraries, sports rooms and even staff rooms as classrooms to accommodate the students. It said a proposal for the construction of porta cabins in some schools has been sent to the Public Works Department and a joint inspection for the same has been completed.

The department has identified eight schools, housing 31,638 students, where it is unfeasible to install porta cabins or vertically expand the existing buildings.

The department has proposed to shift as many as 9,071 students from these schools to a newly constructed school in the area.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Aggarwal said using porta cabins as classrooms is “a very shabby idea”.

“These cabins are dangerous from the point of view of the students’ health, they are not durable and get damaged easily by bad weather. Moreover, the ventilation in such spaces is poor. It will be a waste of the public’s money,” he added.

The Education Department also suggested that old school buildings in the area could be demolished to make space for new multi-storied buildings. The move could prove to be a “solution to the problem of overcrowded schools in the district”, the DoE told the court.

The High Court will hear the case on March 19.