No desks in schools for half of kids

RTI reveals sorry state of govt-run institutions

Most government schools in Delhi do not even have adequate number of desks, chairs and toilets for half of the total number of students, said an RTI reply.

These include Sarvodaya Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalayas and Government Girls Senior Secondary school.

SKV in H Block Sultanpuri has 5,371 students who are being taught by only 154 teachers.

Also, there are 52 classrooms to accommodate these students with only 1,846 desks and 80 benches.

Moreover, this school has only two toilets for students and three for the staff.
Nagar Nigam Vidyalayas run by the municipal corporations share a similar story.
The school at Mandoli Extension 1 has 2,253 students who are stuffed in 16 classrooms and taught by only 49 teachers.

Many schools have one or two rooms for the staff while others do not even have a single staff room.

About three or four schools have sufficient number of desks, chairs and toilets for students because they have lesser number of students.

Patrons for poor people’s foundation, the NGO that had filed the Right to Information query, has written to Delhi’s education minister asking for immediate action against the management of these schools.

“There are poor children studying in these schools. We will request you to inspect these schools along with our members or give us permission to videotape the scenario and submit the same for reference,” wrote S M Umar, president of the NGO.

Also, the toilets are not cleaned regularly and most of the furniture in classrooms is in deplorable condition.

“We asked for information for about 240 schools and all have similar issues. I had written a letter to the government even in 2011 regarding this issue but got no response,” said Umar.