A disaster waiting to happen: most govt school buildings in disrepair

While fire extinguishers were installed recently,the staircase to the first and the second floors,which house the school,is narrow. If a mishap occurred,students would do better to just jump into the courtyard from the first floor,he says.

“Loopholes get highlighted when an emergency occurs. Today’s incident was sad. The government should look into this. Our management has no money,” Nazir said. “We are helpless.”

In Thursday’s stampede at a government school in Khajuri Khas village in Northeast Delhi,students were trapped on the staircase,leading to the death of five girls. While government officials have said the staircase was built according to existing norms and was wide enough,a National Disaster Management Authority official,on condition of anonymity,said the plight of infrastructure at most government schools in the city is quite terrible,the school where the stampede occurred being no exception.

“Under the disaster management mock drills,the students are required to come downstairs. But the government school staircases are so narrow. In such situations,stampedes are usual,” he said. “The government should wake up now and widen these staircases. The existing structures are too old.”

In many schools,government or otherwise,that are housed in cramped quarters,dilapidated old buildings or even tin sheds,an emergency situation could turn chaotic very easily and situation would get out of control,say principals.

In July 2004,93 children between the ages of six and 10 died in a fire mishap at an obscure town in Tamil Nadu called Kumbakonam. After that,Delhi became the first state to incorporate safety measures as part of its Roopantar project launched in 2008,including widening of staircases and equipping every classroom with two doors,one an emergency exit,according to Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely.

Among the school buildings that were identified for renovation,most are concentrated in the Outer Delhi,East,Northeast and the Walled City regions.

“Yes,there are problems. We are trying to do what we can,” Lovely said.

At the Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School housed in the crumbling Chashma Building in Ballimaran,where some repairs were carried out recently,students are still at risk,said a school principal who did not wish to be named. The building is at least 52 years old has developed cracks in its walls. In this case too,a narrow flight of stairs is the only exit.

At a government-run school in Jor Bagh,things aren’t as bad. The school has emergency exits and other safety norms are in place,a school official said.

“Most schools have things in place. Many are in the process of getting it,” she added.

Back near the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi,three schools function in one building. More than 2,000 students walk through the only entrance to the building to get to their classrooms.

Only one has an emergency exit. “Two doors have been built last year. We undertake mock drills and inspections are done,but the state of infrastructure is bad,” a school official said.

After the Tamil Nadu mishap,mock drills became part of the school’s disaster management programme. Once every month,students are asked to evacuate the premises,a practice that many say is an exercise in futility. In the absence of playgrounds at most of these schools,even if the students managed to exit the building,they would spill into the crowded,narrow streets,leading to the possibility of a stampede,a school official said.

MCD-run schools in the city are no better off. Lovely said he is working on a proposal to provide funds for them for upgrading infrastructure.

Rushi Naaz,a former student at Zeenat Mahal School in Jafrabad,currently undergoing renovation under the Roopantar scheme,said: “Even now,we only have only one entrance gate. You would not know where to run if something happens.”