Govt launches audit to revamp dilapidated schools across city
New Delhi: The Delhi government has launched a comprehensive audit to identify schools in deteriorating condition across the city, a senior Education Department official confirmed. The audit, which began earlier this month, aims to assess the structural integrity and basic infrastructure of government schools following growing concerns raised by legislators, parents, and activists.
According to officials, the exercise began with a survey in Narela, where one government school was found in alarming condition, broken ceilings, cracked walls, water seepage, broken desks, and unhygienic washrooms. “We have directed district officials to compile detailed data on schools that are in poor shape and require urgent repair or reconstruction,” the source said.
The move comes months after Education Minister Ashish Sood told the Delhi Assembly in March that an action reportwould be prepared on the deteriorating condition of schools. During the same session, senior Congress MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely raised concerns about a school on Brahmapuri Main Road and pointed out that “several schools in the Trans-Yamuna region are in
similar or worse shape.” He urged the government to release a detailed list of schools that lack basic amenities.
Echoing similar concerns, BJP MLA Kulwant Rana highlighted a school in Saheb Haderi that was “barely functional” due to its crumbling infrastructure. “We are talking about the future of our children,
how can they learn in classrooms where ceilings are falling apart?” he remarked.
In September, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Delhi High Court revealed that classes in at least three schools, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (Zeenat Mahal, Kamla Market), Government Girls Secondary School (Ashok Nagar), and Government Boys Secondary School (Ashok Nagar), were being held under tin sheds, collectively catering to over 1,000 students. The court had slammed the state government for the neglect and directed it to ensure “state-of-the-art infrastructure” for all schools.
