The AAP-led Delhi government makes much song and drama about its so-called ‘education model’, but scrapes the surface and the reality is far from the glamorous picture painted by top city leaders. A basic parameter to judge a school is the school-classroom ratio (SCR) maintained by it. Good schools ensure that the ratio is kept low to ensure the students receive effective education since a teacher can only engage a limited number of students at a time.
Imagine the situation, then, when a Delhi government-run school actually has 190 students in each class, while around a dozen schools in northeast Delhi have a strength of over 100 in a classroom against the Right to Education (RTE) norms which suggest only 30 students in primary and 35 students in upper primary classes.
Even as the Delhi education minister has been on a spree to inaugurate new schools almost every month, the existing ratio in the classrooms in many schools has led to a situation where children are forced to sit in verandahs instead of benches inside a class and stay at home when it is raining.
As per a petition filed in the Delhi High Court, the student-classroom ratio in 18 govt schools in northeast Delhi is alarming. The petition highlighted that the schools have been teaching students for 2 hours per day only or calling them on alternative days as they don’t have enough infrastructure. However, the Delhi Government has stated in an affidavit filed in response that with the completion of proposed school buildings and classrooms, the student-classroom ratio will come down to 37% from the current 83.55%.
An official of the directorate of education said, “We are planning a meeting to discuss all these glaring issues. Northeast Delhi is a densely populated area and there are challenges of schools operating in shifts. Thus we are exploring possibilities of organizing vehicles for students to move them to another school so that the strength and the ratio can be balanced.”
The official added, “Enrollment has risen in these areas and the strength is physically high. We are trying to work out something.”Sushma, vice principal of the Government Co-Ed Middle School, Johripur, which has the highest SCR as per the affidavit submitted by the Delhi government to the Delhi High Court, said, “We have a total of 12 classrooms and have a strength of 1,131 students. We usually end up having more than 100 students seated in each classroom owing to the shortage of classrooms. I had come to this school in March this year but I was told that the strength was much higher than this during the Covid period.”
She added, “We face problems during the examinations because the strength is usually full during exams and we have to make students sit in the verandahs. All the senior officials know about this matter. There were plans to move these children to other schools but some parents are reluctant to let that happen.”
Principal of the Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Khajoori Khas, Surender Singh, speaking to this newspaper, conceded that over 100 students have to be seated in some classes at times. He said, “The strength in our school has always been higher and the classes of 9th and 11th are problematic sometimes but we manage somehow because of the low attendance. We keep writing to the education department about this.”
Request for space made to DDA
In 2022, towards the end of the financial year, the directorate of education had written to the Delhi Development Authority requesting the allocation of land in the northeast district for the construction of new government senior secondary school buildings. It had informed the DDA that there was no space available in 18 schools for the construction of additional classrooms. The 18 schools with poor student-classroom ratio as mentioned in the DOE’s letter to the DDA included GSBV No 1, B block Yamuna Vihar, GGSSS B1 Yamuna Vihar, GSBV
Khajoori Khas, GSKV Khajoori Khas, GBSSS Gokalpur Village, SKV Gokalpur Village, GokalpurI- GBSSS, SKV Gokalpuri, GBSSS Ghonda, GRGSKV Ghonda, GSBV C Block 1, Yamuna Vihar, SKV YV, GBSSS Dayalpur, GGSSS Sabhapur, GGSSS Dayalpur, GBSSS Sabhapur, RDJK Govt coed Bhajanpura, GBSSS RDJK Bhajanpura, GGSS Mustafabad, GGSS Mustafabad, GBSSS Khajoori khas, GGSSS Khajoori Khas, GBSSS Vijay Park, GGSSS Vijay Park, GGSSS Karawal Nagar, GBSSS Karawal Nagar, GBSSS Tukhmirpur, GGSSS Tukhmirpur, GGSSS Sonia Vihar, GBSSS Sonia Vihar, GGSSS East Gokal Puri Loni Road, GBSSS East Gokalpur Loni Road, GBSSS no 2 Tukhmirpur, GGSSS No2, Tukhmirpur, Government Coed middle school Johripur.
The affidavit also shows that the education director Himanshu Gupta has been writing to several departments highlighting the acute shortage of facilities in northeast Delhi. Criticizing the Delhi government for not being able to give adequate space to the school children, the general secretary of the Government School Teachers Association (GSTA), Ajay Veer Singh said, “There are some schools in northeast Delhi which have a strength exceeding 5,000 students despite the fact that they are facing a shortage of classrooms. We usually have a classroom of 6.8 metres and have 21 desks in a room that can accommodate 42 children. However these schools are accommodating over 100 students in a classroom which seems next to impossible because even if we allow three students each on the desk then also the strength will be 63, but that is not the case.”
He added, “The problem here is that the Delhi government recently merged around 100 schools. They combined the two shifts into one shift just to avoid the shortage of teachers but this policy has increased the crowd in the classrooms, hampering the entire teaching process. Some schools are holding classes on alternate day basis while some schools are holding it on the basis of odd and even. I have also filed a petition in the high court highlighting these issues.”
Chairperson of the Joint Forum for Movement on Education (JFME) Nandita Narain, said, “Firstly, we appeal to all the political parties to oppose the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It is jeopardizing the future of lakhs of students. It all starts with the schools. The policy of merger and rationalization that the government is promoting now has to be opposed. We need more schools while the government is surprisingly on a move to shut down the schools and merge a lot of them. Last year, they had shut down around 100 such schools because there was no space to sit and all. The policy of merging schools has also led to a “steep decline” in the classroom teaching-learning process. The government needs to rethink over this.”
Merger policy added to woes
In the year 2022, the Delhi government had reportedly merged 50 schools in April 2022 and another 50 were merged between May and September. According to many experts, with so many schools in the city currently being run on double shifts, with the morning being for girls and the evening for boys and then the merger policy opted for these schools which made them co-ed schools has also prompted many parents to withdraw admission of their daughters from government schools altogether due to cases of “indiscipline” in the new classrooms. Recently, as per an RTI response, the Delhi government schools saw a reduction of 30,000 students in the academic year 2023-24 as compared to 2023-24.
What the HC petition says
As per the petition, it has been stated that the PIL by NGO Social Jurist run by Ashok Aggarwal has received as many as 19 complaints from students studying in SKV Khajuri, SBV Khajuri, GGSSS Sonia Vihar, GBSSS Sonia Vihar, GGSSS Khajuri, GBSSS Karawal Nagar and GGSSS Sabhapur. It was submitted that students of SKV Khajuri, SBV Khajuri, GGSSS Sonia Vihar and GBSSS Sonia Vihar have complained that they are given only 2 hours of classes every day whereas students of GGSSS Khajuri, GBSSS Karawal Nagar and GGSSS Sabhapur have complained that they are ask to come to school only on alternate days.
New schools/ buildings on anvil
Delhi government’s affidavit in HC
The govt in its affidavit filed in Delhi HC said, “In order to reduce the SCR, the students of the higher classes (not below 9th standard) will be shifted to the newly proposed schools after the completion of the construction of school buildings that have approximately (108+50+300=458 rooms) 458 rooms will be available for the students and after doing this activity, the students classrooms ratio (SCR) will be 37.56 to ensure compliance with RTE norms.”
Issue flagged before L-G
National president of All India Parents Association, Ashok Aggarwal has written to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi highlighting that when students are called on alternate days or when classes are held only for two hours a day, the mandated provisions of RTE 2009 are utterly violated