Parents of over a thousand students of the Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) run by NTPC Ltd. in south-east Delhi’s Badarpur have filed a plea in the Delhi High Court over the school’s deteriorating condition.
According to letters accompanying their plea, the parents said that after the closure of NTPC’s Badarpur thermal power station in 2018, the state-run utility was able to run the school only till March 31, 2020.
The school has had no fresh admissions in the last two years and the parents have been verbally informed that the school leaving certificates (SLCs) shall be issued to their wards. The number of students at the school has now reduced to less than 1,500 from 1,819 in 2019.
“There has been a shortage of teachers, electricity, and water, and the school’s building has not been taken care of,” one of the letters, accessed by The Hindu, added.
After multiple appeals to authorities over the last few years, the parents filed a public interest litigation against the Union Education Ministry, the Delhi government as well as the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.
Status change of school
The parents have also requested the Central government to change the status of the school from ‘project’ sector at present to ‘civil’ sector. The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan labels KVs in four categories: ‘civil’, ‘project’, ‘defence’ and ‘institute of higher learning’ sectors.
“We are all worried as to what will happen to the continuation of the school because to date it has not been converted from ‘project’ sector to ‘civil’ sector. We request you to convert the status of this school to help it run in a smooth manner,” the parents wrote in another letter.
‘Constitutional obligation’
Ashok Agarwal, the lawyer who filed the PIL on behalf of the petitioners, said, “The Central and Delhi government have a constitutional obligation to provide quality education free of cost to all the children of the country. This fundamental right of children is getting violated.”
He added that after the funds stopped flowing in, teachers were withdrawn from the school. “There has been an acute shortage of teachers. The dilapidated primary building is in need of urgent repair and toilet blocks have not been maintained, causing discomfort to children.
“The PIL has been admitted in the Delhi HC and the case is slated for hearing on April 6,” Mr. Agarwal said.
Appeal to MP
The parents also appealed to South Delhi MP from BJP Ramesh Bidhuri to take corrective measures. “In four Assembly Constituencies, this is the only good quality school and if it is closed, the future of the students would be affected,” they wrote in an appeal to Mr. Bidhuri.
Since 1981-82, the school has been functioning as a project funded by NTPC at a 3.25-acre patch of land belonging to the Central government.
According to a response to a Right to Information petition, then Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal had in 2019 written to the Union Education Ministry seeking funds to run the school. However, no action has been taken to date.
The parents had also appealed to Ministry that the school begins enrolling students for the 2023-24 academic year, but they did not receive any response.
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