Hundreds of schools run by Municipal Corporation of Delhi are in poor shape in terms of infrastructure, for which lack of funds is often cited as a reason. AAP has promised to overhaul the system, but will it live up to the hype? An analysis by Ifrah Mufti
Some of the schools run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in the national capital are in a shambolic shape in terms of the infrastructure and maintenance. The story is much the same in most cases: dilapidated school buildings, broken boundary walls, inadequate classrooms and benches, dysfunctional toilets lack of drinking water, leaky ceilings and even illegal encroachments inside the premises.
Delhi education minister Atishi herself discovered this pathetic state of affairs recently when she made surprise visits to some schools. On one such visit to a MCD school in Lal Kuan near Pul Prahladpur, she even admonished the principal and asked her to take measures to improve the condition of the school as soon as possible or face strict action.
But does the responsibility lie on the principals alone? Are all MCD schools grappling with the same issues? Why can’t they match up to somewhat better standards at Delhi government schools?
This newspaper spoke to various stakeholders including principals of MCD schools, the MCD director of Education and the Deputy Mayor to try and answer some of these questions.
Lack of funds a stumbling block, say union leaders and principals
According to Ramnivas Solanki, general secretary of Municipal Corporation Teachers Union, the paucity of funds was the most significant issue. “The Delhi education minister should also visit MCD schools which are in a good condition. Only 30 percent of the schools are in a poor shape.
And the problem is that there are not enough funds to maintain the schools,” he said.
“In some schools, one may find the paucity of classrooms as well and two classrooms may need to be merged at times, but looking at this perspective in a positive way, we can say that the strength of students is increasing,” he added.
Vibha Singh, senior vice president of the union, and a principal at one of the MCD schools, agreed with his assessment of the situation. “What can the principals do when there is no money to get certain things
fixed?” she said.
“The condition of MCD schools is considerably better than the Delhi government schools but given the fact that we don’t have enough staff including security guards, sweeping staff and teachers, we lag behind them. If the government considers transferring some staff from the Delhi government schools to MCD schools, we’ll be able to match them,” she added.
A principal at a school in the Shalimar Bagh, concurred. “The major problem faced by us is lacks of funds and adequate teachers. We do manage minor issues with electricity, water or carpentry etc with the funds we get under Sarva Shisksha Abhiyan (SSA) but there are not enough to address leaky ceilings in the classrooms etc which requires a big budget,” she said.
“Then there’s the staff crunch. Currently we have 150 students in class 5 but only two teachers to manage them,” she added.
‘Schools needing urgent attention have been identified’
Reached for his comments on the issue, Vikas Tripathi, director of Education at MCD, said, “We have taken several initiatives to improve the quality of our education. As per our records, 86 percent of our children went to Delhi government schools in class 6 as our schools are only until class 5.
Also, last year, the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) started an initiative to help students in reading but now the MCD has started focusing on their writing capabilities as well. Our teachers are giving individual attention to the children too.”
Talking about the poor infrastructure of the schools, Tripathi said, “For the past three-four years, MCD schools have been grappling with the problem of lack of funds. We have now demanded Rs 200 crore plus Rs 500 crore in general for the overall development of the schools. Of 1,535 MCD schools
currently, we have identified those schools which are in dire need of repair, construction and other improvements.”
“The Delhi government released Rs 400 crore in April, out of which Rs 35 crore is capital and Rs 175 crore is general and rest is under salary head though we had demanded Rs 500 crore,” he added.
Going by a MCD report from last year, there are 59 schools in the south zone which are in urgent need of repairs, 53 schools in the central zone, 36 in Najafgarh, 35 in Keshavpuram zone and 33 in Shahadra south zone. As many as 23 schools in Karol Bagh, 23 in Rohini, 31 in West Delhi, 26 in Narela and 9 in Civil Lines also need major repairs, as per the report.
Some other schools which are not in a very good state are located in areas such as Jahangirpuri, Mangolpuri, Sultanpuri, Trilokpuri, Rohini, Pitampura etc.
AAP is just playing petty politics on issue, alleges BJP
In March this year, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had said that Delhi has around 1800 MCD schools which are in a ‘very bad condition’. In response, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said, “90% of
MCD schools are in better shape than those run by Delhi govt. Whatever little problems the MCD schools faced over the last eight years were due to lack of funds from Kejriwal government.”
In September 2022, in a statement, the MCD had stated that the funds allotted by the Delhi government to it under infrastructure creation/capita assets/repair & maintenance was Rs 0 (zero rupees) in 2020-21, Rs 21 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 7.5 crore in 2022-23. “In comparison to this, Delhi government schools were provided more than Rs 1,500 crore every year for its 1100 schools,” the MCD had claimed.
Speaking to this newspaper, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “According to my knowledge, of over 1,500 MCD schools, we after 15 years of our governance had left behind approximately 1350 schools in a good state, 100 in a satisfactory condition and 100 in a poor condition. There were approximately 200 such schools where we had planned for more improvement but we couldn’t do so because of lack of funds. Unfortunately, the Aam Aadmi Party has apparently made a list of those 200 weak schools where they are making surprise inspections,” he said.
“There are many good MCD schools in the city and there is one MCD school in Lajpat Nagar which has been awarded as the best primary school in the world but the AAP government doesn’t see that. We have challenged the Delhi government to take the former BJP counsellors to all schools and see for themselves the good work we had done,” he added.
We will ensure that situation gets better, says AAP after taking charge
Delhi education minister Atishi in a review meeting held on May 4 said that schools under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi were grappling with several challenges as they had been “neglected” over the past 15 years by the BJP.
“The sad state of hundreds of MCD schools today is a clear reflection that BJP has not done any work in the field of education. The schools lack desks and drinking water, and toilets are in a bad condition. The education department staff of the MCD was struggling with severe shortage of teachers as well as sanitation workers and security guards,” Atishi stated.
She said that MCD schools too will now become ‘world-class’. “9 lakh children studying in MCD schools will also receive good education. The government will ensure all the basic facilities for students and teachers will ensure that no child lags behind in receiving quality education or falls behind the minimum benchmark,” she said.
Deputy Mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal said, “Our councillors have submitted a list of all those schools from their areas which fall in the danger zone and our first priority is to work on them. In the first one and half years, we plan to improve the conditions of those MCD schools which are literally running under tin sheds and where students are sitting on the floor. After that, we will start working on improving the infrastructure of the schools and shaping it in a way we have transformed the Delhi government schools. We will bring in smart classrooms, extra-curricular activities and will also get the school management committees formed in MCD schools.”It remains to be seen, of course, whether all these tall promises get translated into reality.