No water, no power — and no classes. Two new Delhi govt schools lie unused

For residents of the two localities, where the nearest government school is a few kilometres away and is crowded, the delay feels like a broken promise.

The school in Sunder Nagri.

Somvati, a 33-year-old homemaker, had made several trips to the Kirari school from her home in Prem Nagar — three lanes away — to find out when it would open. “I’ve been going back and forth to the school, hoping my two daughters can finally get admission,” she said.

“But there’s no start date…  I went again last week and was told by the guard sitting there that it will start after summer vacation…”

Gautam Kumar, a 32-year-old factory worker in Mundka, also lives near the Kirari campus. None of his three children, aged 6, 8 and 9, have ever stepped inside a classroom. “We moved to Delhi from Bihar so they could study,” said their grandmother, Chameli Devi.

“But here we are — still waiting. How long can one man’s income carry a family? We feel like we’re going backwards. What kind of country are we building where children still don’t go to school?” she demanded.

In Sunder Nagri, residents echoed the same frustration. “All the children go slightly far away to study… had this school been opened, it would have been convenient…,” said a resident, who requested not to be named.

The Kirari school, inaugurated by former chief minister Atishi, was expected to accommodate 3,500 students. Its counterpart in Sunder Nagri was projected to serve 7,000. Both schools are to run in double shifts — 9 am to 12.30 pm and 1 pm and 5 pm — to ease overcrowding.

The Indian Express spoke to parents who want quality education for their children and to officials and stakeholders on why the schools are yet to open despite the new term beginning in April.

‘No amenities’

The Kirari Senior Secondary School has five floors, 72 rooms, including 37 classrooms, science and vocational labs, a library, a lift, and a multipurpose hall.

But it lacks the most basic amenities — water, electricity, sewer lines, and a road.

The missing road — part of the Delhi Development Authority’s 2021 layout plan — is especially symbolic of the state of neglect. The land where there was supposed to be a 12-metre-wide access road leading to the school, as per the plan, is an open plot strewn with garbage.

Across the school are sugarcane juice vendors, surrounded by thousands of buzzing flies. School-age children were found playing amid the waste, even under the scorching noonday sun.

When asked about the lack of amenities, a senior official from the Directorate of Education (DoE) said, “The Directorate has applied for electricity. The Public Works Department (PWD), which is currently responsible for the building, has said it lacks the necessary funds. The Delhi Jal Board hasn’t given us a water supply estimate, and there’s no sewer line either.”

“We can’t open a school without toilets or drinking water,” the official added.

According to the official, the department has repeatedly followed up with the PWD and the DDA, and meetings have been held in the presence of the District Magistrate. “At a meeting two months ago, it was assured before the DM that the access road to the Kirari school would be expedited. But nothing has happened.”

When contacted, Delhi PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said, “I have taken immediate note of this issue and directed the authorities concerned to ensure that all essential facilities are put in place at the earliest so that our children get the environment they truly deserve to study and grow.”

He also hit out at the AAP government, which was in power earlier, for their “negligence”. “It is absolutely shameful how the previous government treated our children’s future. They went ahead and inaugurated a school building without ensuring basic necessities like electricity, water supply, and a proper sewerage line,” he told The Indian Express.

“This level of negligence is not just unacceptable — it’s a clear reflection of their apathy towards governance and public welfare…”

The Sunder Nagri school boasts of 131 rooms, seven labs, a lecture theatre, a conference room and a lift. Sources said water and electricity issues have hindered its functioning.

“This new school is in a perfect location. It has great facilities — better than the old ones. But it has remained shut… There is a lot of confusion around this school. We don’t know why,” said a resident.

Another resident said, “We thought it was an inter-college… There are schools in the area, but these are completely packed and not enough for the population.”

The Education Minister’s Office and senior DoE officials did not respond to queries for comment.

In 2019, a local NGO, ‘Hamara Prayas Samajik Utthan’, filed a plea in the Delhi High Court highlighting the lack of any government schools in Kirari within a 3-4 km radius.

The nearest are two senior secondary government schools in JJ colony and Nangloi — one for boys and the other for girls.

Near the Nangloi Metro station and market is an MCD primary school in Block B. Its feeder school is in Nithari village, and families have to cross a railway track to send their children to this school.

Besides these, there is a Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya as well as two senior secondary government schools; however, these are far from Prem Nagar and closer to the Nangloi market.

The DoE data shows that there are 2,160 students in Nangloi’s Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya; 1,587 in Senior Secondary School (Co-ed); and 2,338 and 2,394 students enrolled in two Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalayas.

Meanwhile, in Sunder Nagri, the Government Girls Senior Secondary School has 1,597 enrolled students while the Government Boys Senior Secondary School has 1,310 students, as per the data.

According to official sources, the classrooms in these areas are overcrowded with around 200 students each.

As per a court order in February 2021, the DDA allotted land to the DoE for the Kirari school’s construction.

“For six years we fought for a school in this area,” said Mohan Paswan, a social worker and education rights activist associated with the NGO. “Now that they are built, they sit unused. In Kirari, the excuse is no water or electricity. Is it even an impossible task or a difficult one, even for the government, to not be able to resolve it?”