AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak on Thursday said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has failed to provide books, uniforms and stationery to students under the civic body schools “for the last two years” despite receiving funds from the Centre and the Delhi government.
“After AAP raised questions, [the] MCD had promised to send money directly to the accounts of students so that children could buy books and stationery themselves, but their promise also turned out to be a flat lie,” said Mr. Pathak.
The MCD, meanwhile, dismissed Mr. Pathak’s allegations, saying books were provided to students across all its schools in the last two years.
It also stated that the enrolment in its schools had increased because of “efficient management” and 2,53,000 new students were admitted this year. The civic body, in its statement, highlighted that the total number of students in its schools had crossed 9,10,000, “which is the highest in the last five years”.
Demand for probe
Mr. Pathak said the “BJP-governed” MCD had been “shamelessly” violating the Right To Education Act, and it was necessary to conduct an investigation into the matter. He added that close to 10 lakh students in MCD schools were in dire need of uniforms and books. “The BJP’s MCD has failed to provide basic necessities which are required for studying in a school. They should have already provided this to the students. We are in the month of August and so many days have passed since the schools opened,” said Mr. Pathak, who is also the AAP’s MCD in-charge.
The civic body said it runs various welfare schemes for students in its schools. It added that while it requires ₹162 crore to run these schemes, “the Delhi government has provided a meagre amount of ₹37.5 crore, which is less than 25% of the required amount”.
“MCD has given requisition of textbooks to Delhi government-run agency Delhi Bureau of Textbooks [DBTB] at the start of the academic session. DBTB started the delivery of textbooks in June. Additional demand for textbooks has been put up with DBTB and delay in getting them is at the end of DBTB. It is hoped that the books will be provided shortly and a small number of schools where the problem has surfaced will be duly supplied with textbooks,” the MCD’s statement read.
