When Board exams meet a demolition drive

Samra

Samra, 15, is a 10th grade student from the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya No. 2 in Mehrauli’s Main Bazar. She was born and brought up in this house, and lives in a joint family of 15-plus members.

“They should at least wait until our exams end. I am so disheartened looking at my family right now that I am not able to focus. I have not been to school in four days now as I was helping them pack our belongings,” she said.

Right behind her house, near Jameela Masjid, shanties were demolished with a bulldozer on Tuesday as Samra broke down. “Where will we go when it gets dark; our belongings are all in the open?”

Her family said they have lived here for over 40 years.

Sanya

“Her grandmother, Bilkis Begum (70), said: “We have all the registry papers but no one is ready to take a look at them.”

Shaheen Idrishi, 18, walked towards Jameela Masjid, right next to her home, holding a Quran in her hand, as her family vacated the premises. All that remained at their home was a cot and empty cupboards. “We don’t want to disrespect the Quran by placing it in our broken home,” Idrishi said.

Idrishi, a class 12 student studying at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Mehrauli, has also lived in this house all her life. “I have my Hindi exam on February 20 but I am distracted. We want to place a demand to postpone our exams. I have been picking up household belongings instead of my books the past few days. How can one study here?”

Idrishi’s sister Tanya, who is in the 10th grade in the same school, said they have expressed concerns with their school, but haven’t heard back.

Both sisters dream of becoming air hostesses.

“I have not been to school in three days. An entire year of my career will go waste if the exams are not postponed,” said Sanya, another class 12 student from Ramanujan Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya.

She is the youngest of three siblings and her family has lived here for three decades.

Many class 10 students also said they might not be able to choose a stream of their choice if they don’t score enough.

“There are many students in Mehrauli going through the same,” Sanya said.

On Tuesday evening, the residents of Mehrauli shared that they got a stay order of three days after the L-G intervened.