Despite a High Court stay, students of Mirambika Free Progress School were shifted into an unauthorised and under-construction building above a bank and grocery store located on the premises of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, parents alleged.Parents are worried as their children go to this acclaimed school, which is a fire hazard trap for its inhabitants. Parents are perplexed as the school administration has refused to heed their pleadings to ensure the safety and security of their children.
Parents alleged that this was the second time that Mirambika students have been shifted in the last three months.It may be noted that on April 14, students, studying at Mirambika, were shifted from their campus to the residential Ashram, both run by Sri Aurobindo Education Society (SAES).Situated at a prime real estate property in South Delhi, Mirambika is a 34-year-old free progress school based on the philosophy of Shri Aurobindo.
Parents filed a writ petition, when their children were first shifted to the Ashram premises on April 14, with the Delhi High Court protesting this illegal move and demanded that their children be moved back to the original school building.The High Court on May 6 ordered a stay on the Engineering College and set the next hearing date for July 3. Nevertheless, the management again shifted the children to a construction site situated illegally above a grocery store, a kitchen and a bank, on the July 1 when the school reopened after the summer break. “It is shocking that the management is flouting laws and is not even answerable to it” one parent said while talking to The Pioneer.
According to the parents, the children were illegally moved despite the matter being subjudice and the next hearing date only days away.We were shocked to find our children on what was still a construction site, located illegally above a shopping arcade and lacking necessary DoE and other approvals.The new so-called school is under construction. There is no water supply in the building. Almost every tap is dysfunctional. Odour of paint thinners is prevailing in the building. It lacks basic amenities for a school like library, labs and computers, alleged parents. Also, the building does not meet the safety guidelines for schools set by the Supreme Court.
“We sent out children to Mirambika because they could learn freely — jump out of windows and play with ducks and peacocks. Instead, they have now been shifted to a shoe-box size building where they need help to go from one room to the other” another distraught parent said.