Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (File)The Delhi BJP has targeted the Delhi government’s education model once again, this time following reports that several students of Delhi government schools are having to study in makeshift cabin structures while new buildings are being completed.
In a tweet from its official handle, it said: “The poor Delhi model of the Kejriwal government has been exposed again. Children are forced to study in porta cabins because of the incompetent Kejriwal government.”
The Indian Express visited Southeast Delhi’s Molar Band, which is home to a large cluster of 11 government schools — 6 morning shift girls’ schools and 5 evening shift boys’ schools — where construction of new red-brick buildings has been underway for a few years now. Because of this, at least a section of their students has been attending classes in makeshift cabin-like structures made of tin sheets.
Fake Education Model of Kejriwal Government stands exposed! pic.twitter.com/5lszesUYGM
— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) September 14, 2022
In one of these schools, Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya No. 1, which has 5,244 students, several class XI students complained of having studied out of cabins since they have been in senior school.
One of these students said he had joined the school in class IX and has been studying in cabins ever since. “I used to study in a private school in Haryana and my parents moved me from there to this school, they had heard that government schools in Delhi are good. But this has been the state ever since I’ve joined. There isn’t even a washroom for us boys,” he said.
Another student complained of the heat in the cabins. “Around 70 of us are supposed to be sitting in one cabin but it gets too hot in there, because of which many of the boys bunk school. There are fans but it still gets very hot in there and the electricity goes often,” he said.
In another school, which also has nearly 4,000 students, teachers said because the cabins in their school are located at the bottom of an incline, the electricity supply is cut off every time it rains in anticipation of waterlogging. With 24 cabins, each accommodating around 60 students, around one-third of the students had been studying out of the cabins.
“It has been going on for about four years. The construction has taken a long time, maybe because of lockdowns, because of labourers leaving the city. There had been work with the washrooms, drainage, finishing and cleaning. But now it’s moving quickly. Today itself, desks were brought in and students were vacated from 9 porta cabins and moved to rooms in the new building,” said the head of one of the schools.
In some of the schools, the need for the cabins stopped a few months back. “We used to sit in the cabins earlier before Covid. But from around three-four months, all students are sitting in the new building,” said a student of Government Boys Senior Secondary School No. 3, which has 3,353 students.
According to an education department official, work related to wire fitting and water connection had been remaining in some of the buildings, which is being completed.