‘We are in 2025…’: Delhi High Court raps govt for running schools from tin shed classrooms

For the Kamla market school, the petition further highlighted that the makeshift classrooms lack insulation, ventilation, and climate control, resulting in extreme heat during the summer and an overall unsafe learning environment. Furthermore, with a Ram Leela ground adjoining the temporary structures of classrooms, the PIL said that it is “even more inappropriate and incongruous with the significance of the area”.

A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela sought a response from the Delhi government and the director of education. It kept the matter for further consideration on September 17.

Justice Gedela, addressing the Delhi government’s standing counsel Sameer Vashisht, orally remarked, “We are in 2025 and it is very bad that (the) Delhi government is running tin shed schools putting students at risk. Not only is it a tin shed, it is also without walls, proper desks, blackboard…”

The court further remarked, “How can you compete with private schools when you are running tin shed schools?”

The PIL requested that the temporary structures be made permanent and that, in the meantime, the students be moved to a permanent school building. It also pointed out that in an earlier litigation, the court in July 2024 directed the education department to comply with the deadlines with respect to infrastructural facilities, including for procurement and supply of desks, textbooks, uniforms and writing materials.