To meet its set target of completing the construction of 8,000 classrooms by July end this year, the Delhi Government is being accused of building new classrooms in the open space. Following which there are fears that space for playgrounds is shrinking. Moreover, it has also sparked debate: Is it right move to build classrooms in open spaceIJ
School administrations pointed fingers on the shrinking playground space for the students. The Pioneer took account of the space taken up by the new construction projects at several Government schools, noting a common point that space for playgrounds seemingly is shrinking.
A student of Chandra Shekhar Azad Government Boys Senior Secondary School said, “Though we have a big enough ground to play but it is not maintained properly and because of its roughness and non-uniform bumpy patches, playing on it is difficult.”
Besides, the issue of water supply is another serious issue. Also, the ratio of teachers to students and quality of teachers poses a major challenge before the school administration. Talking to The Pioneer, a class IX student of Tekhend Government Boys Senior Secondary School—Utkarsh said, “Water supply is a big issue…If it stops for a day, we have to wait for it to return only in another four-five days. In such circumstances, the drinking water as well as water-supply inside the toilets gets affected…following which our toilet starts stinking.”
The head of school, however said, “The infrastructure at present tries to cater every need of each student but sometimes problems occur but only till we find out ways to recover from them.”
Similarly, the question of supply of water arises when 93 new classrooms are being constructed in the same school and in other schools too.
Meanwhile administration brought the problem of shortage of qualified teachers to the fore. “The Delhi Government, however, has sanctioned posts for 5,000 plus teachers in schools; current situation has not changed where one teacher has to deal with more than 50 students at a time…some times 150,” said a senior teacher of CSA-GBSSS school on the condition of anonymity.
He added, “What will we do with new classrooms when we don’t have enough teachers to comply with itIJ”
An official from the administration of Badarpur Government school said, “I can challenge the private school teachers to debate with ours in any area of subject...This is our capability but the problem is that to impart good; you have to feel good and crunched in a classroom with more than 50 kids and with only two fans working.. It just mentally exhausts teachers.”
Also a head of school on the condition of anonymity said, “list of principals never comes out and we keep working only as heads till we retire…There are no principals in school and at some places only vice-principals are running the show.”
Also a depressing revelation was made by some students from Okhla Government school that some of their teachers use abusive language to scold students. Hence, the question rises not only on the quality of the education but also on the quality of teachers.
Meanwhile citing one big problem for school, the principal of Badarpur Government school said, “There is garbage dumping room adjacent to the wall of our school…The smell doesn’t let students to focus.”
“lately, we had to stop our examination mid-way when rain was witnessed as the smell of the garbage-dump worsened up and ruined the entire atmosphere,” he added.