Who will give us books again, ask children in Delhi's low-lying areas

New Delhi: Wet books spread out on cots, uniforms drying over gas stoves and children clutching half-torn notebooks capture the struggle of families in the flood-hit areas of Delhi as the Yamuna continued to escalate.

As the Yamuna level stood at 207.445 at 2 pm, the sight of drying books and uniforms hanging from ropes, railings and even tree branches reflects both the devastation caused by the flood.

With exams around the corner, students are borrowing textbooks, copying lost lessons and worrying about uniforms as their education hangs in the balance.

For students like Anuradha, a Class 11 student and resident of Yamuna Khadar, the floods could not have come at a worse time. Sitting on a broken plastic chair in her pink school dress, she was carefully turning the pages of a damp book she managed to salvage.

"I lost many of my books, notebooks and stationery. In the middle of the year, who would provide us all these things again?" she asked, adding that "I now borrow books from my classmates and copy down notes late in the evening, but it is very difficult to catch up." Manvi, a Class 10 student living near Mayur Vihar phase 1, fears she might have to skip her mid-semester exams. "My exams are just a few days away, but all my notes and books where I had written my syllabus are gone. Even my school uniform is missing," she said.

"How can I go to school like this? Until I get another set of books and uniforms, I don't think I will be able to attend classes," she added.

In another corner of the flooded neighbourhood, Geeta Madan was balancing a damp shirt on a steel plate over the gas stove, trying to get it dry in time for her son Sahil's afternoon school.

"I don't want my children to suffer because of what I am going through. Whatever the situation, I will send them to school," she said, adding that even if she had to wash and dry the same uniform every day, she would not let her children miss their classes.

Eight-year-old Ankush was riding a small bicycle in the narrow lane outside the camps, wearing a school shirt paired with pyjama bottoms. He had not been to school for three days.

"My clothes are dirty and my mom said I should wear the school shirt until my clothes get dry," he said with a shy smile.

For parents in the area, the fear is not only about lost belongings but also about lost opportunities.

Ramesh Kumar, a daily wager whose daughter studies in Class 9, said he was worried she would fall behind.

"Education is the only way forward for my daughter. If she misses classes and exams now, it will affect her whole year. I can take some money and buy food but I don't know how to buy books and uniforms again," he said.