It took over a year for the North Delhi Municipal Corporation to clear encroachments at its primary school in Shadipur, because of which over 300 girls and 200 boys stopped coming to class.
According to a North Corporation official, “The vacant land at the MCD primary school in Shadipur was encroached upon by people since November 2017, after the Delhi Development Authority demolished their homes in a drive and asked them to relocate to a camp. However, many of them took refuge on the school’s land.”
Over 30 tents were erected right outside the gate, with the numbers increasing constantly, the official said. In the meantime, the school saw 326 of the 618 girls and 216 out of 332 boys enrolled dropping out, he said. “The main reason behind the high dropout was that the girls did not feel safe as the encroachers used to pass comments at them,” the official claimed.
However, he added, among those who dropped out were also children whose homes were demolished in the drive. The corporation finally cleared the encroachment last Wednesday.
Education committee chairman of the North Corporation Ritu Goel said the matter was brought to her notice. “I have communicated with the school administration to launch an awareness campaign and bring back the students that we lost,” she said.
On why it took so long to clear the encroachers, a senior official said there were repeated requests from the headquarters to zonal-level officials, whose duty it is to clear encroachments, but they were unresponsive.
“We had sent four letters to police, asking for personnel, to no avail… Some influential people were also protecting the encroachers, saying that the corporation will be held responsible if anyone dies due to the cold. Finally, in the past month, top-level officials intervened; they wrote to police and strict orders were given to zonal officials to get the encroachment cleared…,” the official claimed.
“When we sent officials from headquarters, the people initially showed resistance, saying the DDA did not make alternative arrangements for them… But we couldn’t risk the safety of the students, especially girls, and they were made to vacate the land,” the official added.
On the alleged inaction by police, a senior officer claimed, “The DDA had asked these people to stay outside the school as the transit camp to house those displaced was full. When we received the letter from the corporation, we wrote to the DDA… as we cannot displace people without a consensus from all involved. On receiving information that they had been given space at the camp, we provided support for the drive.”
According to a senior DDA official, following the demolition, all those eligible were provided alternative housing: “There was no reason for them to encroach on school land. If anyone feels the DDA has not given them a house and they deserve it, they can approach an independent committee of retired High Court judges formed to look into this matter.”
The North body has 714 schools, where more than 3.5 lakh students are enrolled. But the dropout rate has been a constant worry. As per last year’s data, the number of students enrolled fell from 3.80 lakh to 3.55 lakh.
