AAP and BJP in classroom warfare: CM says BJP MPs painting incomplete picture

“Out of 1,024 government schools in Delhi, BJP found only eight schools with some deficiencies. I want to congratulate all the children of Delhi. Congratulations to the parents and teachers that you have passed such a difficult exam, but even those (deficiencies) turned out to be false,” Kejriwal said.

The MPs, including Gautam Gambhir, Hans Raj Hans, Manoj Tiwari, Meenakshi Lekhi and Ramesh Bidhuri, had visited schools and alleged, in videos put up on Twitter, that facilities were poor. Tiwari spoke to students studying in a school in Khajuri Khas, who said they are taught for only two hours a day.

Gambhir had visited the Government Girls/Boys Senior Secondary School in Khichdipur and shared the video of dilapidated rooms and dirty toilets. Education Minister Manish Sisodia said the particular school had been shifted to another building in October last year, and students were shifted to a temporary campus till the new building is rebuilt. A notice stating this was also pasted on the school gate. “I have the demolition orders of this school and the public notice has also been placed at the gate of the school. When Gautam Gambhir went to make a video of this school, he must have seen this truth. But he chose not to read it,” said Sisodia.

Gambhir tweeted later: “So ‘Mr. Education’ is saying that this school became a wreck in three months? For five years it was a model school and right before elections it was shut down!”

Sisodia also said that Parvesh Sahib Singh had tweeted a video of a school in Matiala where the old building is opposite the new one. “He very carefully made sure not to show the new building,” he said. He also alleged that North West Delhi MP Hans Raj Hans “threatened the estate manager at night and opened the school to make a fake video”.

Singh claimed: “Students are saying that teachers told them the building can fall any minute. They are saying that teachers asked them not to dance and stomp on the floor… If after that, the principal says the assessment was done from outside (by the PWD), then there can be no bigger lie.”

Hans, the North West Delhi MP, said, “I just wanted to show that it is a lie that all government schools under the Delhi government have improved. The school was full of filth, the bathrooms were dirty.”

While Tiwari did not respond, senior BJP leader Neelkant Bakshi said, “At the school in Khajuri Khas, we found that students study for only two hours in the evening shift. The principal said the shift duration is of three hours but due to the school assembly and other things, teaching time is two hours… There are 25-30 classrooms with over 3,000 children. The school doesn’t have proper infrastructure…” MPs Meenakshi Lekhi and Harsh Vardhan did not respond to calls and messages seeking a comment.

Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Prem Nagar (Patel Nagar)

Photos were tweeted by Chandni Chowk MP Harsh Vardhan

When The Indian Express visited the school, it found that the administration is in the process of constructing a new building for the school, which runs in two shifts. There are around 2,200 students in the morning shift and around 2,000 students in the evening shift, who study from class VI to XII.

A series of photographs shared by the Union Health Minister on Twitter show a dislocated drain, broken table and chairs, dirty washroom and a field filled with garbage.

However, school vice-principal R P Meena said the minister did not take photos of the new building. Recently, the old building housing 10 classrooms and a hall was demolished to make space for the new building. The school has started makeshift classrooms under a tent in another part of the campus for students.

“We have two other new buildings that are already functional. The main building will be demolished in a few months and the students will have a newly constructed building soon. The ground filled with garbage and debris is the same place where the building was dismantled,” said Meena.

-Astha Saxena

Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya Railway Colony, Tughlakabad

South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri had visited the school.

On Monday, Bidhuri had shared pictures from the school of benches in porta cabin structures and dilapidated furniture pushed to a corner in a room. On Tuesday, The Indian Express found that a section of students are studying in 12 porta cabin structures as a block of the school has been demolished to construct a new building, which is in fact nearing completion.

The head of school said a structure of 60 rooms had been demolished a year ago to construct 52 new rooms. The school has 3,400 students. “It’s a temporary arrangement. A four-storey tall building with 10 labs has been built, it should be ready in a month. An alternative has to be given to children whose classrooms have been demolished,” he said.

He added that he asked the MP to also take photos of the new construction but was told to “not do politics”. This is the second phase of reconstruction in the school. Ninety rooms had been completed in the first phase in 2018 and are in use now. The HoS added that pictures of dilapidated rooms are of a block of the school — where around 450 children study — slotted for the third phase of demolition and construction.

-Sukrita Baruah

Rajkiya Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Matiala, visited by West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh

Singh had visited the school on Monday and claimed it was deemed dangerous by the Public Works Department and liable to fall any minute. Head of School H R Meena said it is awaiting a physical assessment by the PWD. “The department has said it is dangerous based on an assessment from outside. If it is deemed dangerous after a physical assessment we may have to demolish it… We have shut some classes where we felt there was a problem. Others are being used. The situation is not that bad. Why would we keep children there if the condition was like that?” Meena said.

New classrooms were built across this building in 2017, but Meena said both buildings were being used to accommodate all students. Some classrooms in the old building have damp walls with paint peeling off, and at least one did not have windows.

– Shivam Patel

Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Mangolpuri

North West Delhi MP Hans Raj Hans the school.

The school blocks in Mangolpuri were constructed in the early 2000s and 2016. School vice-principal Brahm Dev said the structures are semi-permanent.

In his video, Hans had walked into a room with a carpet on the floor but no tables or chairs, and had commented on the lack of proper seating arrangements for children.

According to Dev, the room serves as an activity room for nursery, KG, Class I and II children. He said, “I have applied for smaller chairs for students in nursery, KG, Class I and II, as the desks are large and are made of iron. I did it to ensure the safety of students so that they are not hurt badly if they fall or hit their head.” Since these children often have coursework that involves activities, they spend time there, he said.

On Tuesday, the toilets were being cleaned and were in working condition; there were functional CCTV cameras; and the school compound area was clean, lined with potted plants. There was also an equipped home science classroom.

Dev said, “We have CCTV cameras, potted plants, and desks in every other classroom.”

Dev added that he did not allow the MP to enter, calling the visit a “sudden attack”. Naveen Ahmad, a security guard, said party workers entered without permission and that he was forced to open the gate for them. “He (Hans) said he wanted to use the toilet,” he said.

– Ananya Tiwari

Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Khajuri Khas

North East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari visited the school.

At 3.30 pm, around 300 students reached the campus and were waiting for classes to start. “There are no fixed timings here; I usually drop him at 1 pm but these days they call him at 2 or 3 pm. Teachers often come late and the children sit in the classes,” claimed Sattavati (33), a resident of Sriram Colony, whose son studies in class VIII in the school.

Students of classes IX and XII said they have only two hours of classes, starting at 4 pm and ending by 6 pm. Students of classes X and XII have classes from 1 pm to 6 pm, while students of classes VI, VII and VIII study from 1 pm to 4 pm. Some parents also complained about the mid-day meal, alleging that students of class IX and XI are not served anything.

A class IX student said, “ Though we have science and computer labs, we hardly get the chance to use them. We are taught three subjects a day. We eat lunch at home and come to school. There is a hockey and football ground in the school but the sports faculty only comes twice a week.”

A teacher of the school told The Indian Express, “We have over 2,500 students and classrooms are few. We are planning to get a new block built in April. Till then, junior classes and class IX and XI study in separate shifts. We are trying to extend the timing but we need more teachers and classes.”

A Delhi government official said: “It is true that this is the case. The area in which the school is located is densely populated and thousands of students need to be accommodated in small campuses, which is why staggering has to be done. For the last few years, we have been asking DDA to allot land in the area to build new schools but that has not been done. Starting from the next session, we are going to organise transport for children from areas like this and Karawal Nagar to go study in schools in Timarpur and Yamuna Vihar.”

– Jignasa Sinha

Government Boys/Girls Senior Secondary School, Khichdipur

East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir visited the school.

On Monday, Gambhir had shared a video of the school building on Twitter with the caption, “They say fight the election on education, I say fight the election on truth.” The video showed a crumbled building and neglected toilets. When The Indian Express visited it on Tuesday, it came to light that the building was not in use, and there was a notice on the gate stating that it will be operating from Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya JJ Colony starting from October 9, 2019.

According to the head of the morning shift girls’ school, the building has not been in use since the last three months as it is to be demolished , and a new building is to be constructed. “The demolition was supposed to have already taken place but it got put on hold due to the election and will commence afterwards. However, both the boys’ and girls’ schools have already moved out of it and classes are taking place from temporary structures that the government has made for us in the campus of the school in JJ Colony,” she said.

– Sukrita Baruah