In unbearable cold, these students are studying in a Delhi school made of tin sheets

Cut to 2022 and nothing has changed. When The Indian Express visited the school on Friday, it found four tin porta cabin “classrooms” with rickety wooden desks that can accommodate about 100-150 students. For the rest, the management has set up four “open-air” classrooms made of tin sheets.

Several students The Indian Express spoke to complained of difficulties they face while in class. Afsal Ansari, a Class VI student who studies in the morning shift, said: “It is very cold today… It was worse at 7 am when our classes began… It is very hard to read and write because of this.” The school operates in two shifts — in the morning for classes VI to XII and afternoon for classes I to V.

Another student, Afsar Hussain, said, “It is equally bad during summer as there is no fan or light… even the drinking water is dirty… I don’t know when we will get a permanent classroom, like the ones they show the CM visiting on TV.”

Others pointed to poor facilities. Class IV student Raziya Khatoon, who was wearing six layers of clothes to beat the cold, said, “My sister and I come here in the morning to attend the madrasa and tuition… We study in the second shift. The main problem for us is using the toilet. It is a common toilet far from our classroom and it’s scary to go alone… Teachers too only allow us to go in groups… Our mother told us not to use the toilet in school… We can control it but it is very hard to do so for 7-8 hours at a stretch…”

Several students also complained of the poor quality of mid-day meals. “Nothing is good here…The desks are broken…The puri they give us is very hard and rice is stale…,” said Abdul Salim, who is in Class VI.

Another student from Class V said she will change schools after she finishes the primary section: “There are no fixed classes, we study science for two days, math and other subjects on other days as there are very few teachers… Sometimes, classes IV and V sit together.”

Irshad Ali, who teaches all subjects for primary classes and is an alumnus, said nothing has changed in the last 22 years from when he was a student to now, when he is a teacher. “The school just got an upgrade from tent roofs to tin shade roofs… We are trying our best to teach the children but it is in the hands of the government and school management.”

School principal Mohabbat Ali said: “The 2018 court order was a major relief to all of us, but we could not claim the land from the DDA as we did not receive a letter of allotment. Of the 4,000 square metres of land allotted, the MCD is constructing a parking lot on 1,600 sqm… A contempt case against the DDA was filed last month and the next hearing is on February 28.”

Firoz Bakht Ahmed, who filed the PIL for restoring Qaumi School, said, “Education Minister Manish Sisodia promised a permanent school building with state-of-the-art facilities but nothing has been done so far… I have now filed a contempt case against the DDA for not allotting the land.”

The DDA as well as the Delhi government did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment. The institution is a co-ed Delhi government-aided school.