Parents knock on HC's door for literacy

300-year-old village doesnt have a school for its kids

All India Parents Association members have moved the Delhi High Court urging the government to build a school and improve living conditions in 300-year-old village of Badarpur Khadar on main Yamuna Pushta road in north-east Delhi.

The petition has been filed under the aegis of Social Jurist, a civil rights group. The petition states that the village comprises 150 bricks and mud houses with no electricity, roads, drinking water supply, school, dispensary.

It was also submitted that about 100 girl children, eligible for attending school, has never been to school and only a negligible number of boys attend one, walking a distance of eight kilometres in Uttar Pradesh.

The petition demands a school in the village before July, 2012 to ensure that children are given the right to basic education.

In a recent visit to the village, it was discovered that except a boundary wall, nothing is in place despite a High Court order two years ago that a school should be built.

“It appears that though money has been given to Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (DSIIDC) by the state government for the construction of the school, it has not done anything so far.

“We had filed similar petitions in 2010 and 2011, but the figure of out of schoolchildren remains the same. Nearly 97 per cent of the population is illiterate as the area lacks a school which has led to generations of illiteracy,” said Ashok Agarwal, advocate and RTE campaigner.

Badarpur Khadar is home to over 3,000 people who barely earn more than Rs 3,000 per month.

Electricity reached the village only in 2010, but there is no government water supply. The concept of public transport is a far-fetched dream in this last of the city’s 272 wards which falls under Sonia Vihar.