Delhi schools are hotbeds of injustice
Even after paying Rs 2 lakh to Delhi Jal Board, a government school in east Delhi's Trilokpuri still could not procure drinking water for its students during last year’s winters.
Even after paying Rs 2 lakh to Delhi Jal Board, a government school in east Delhi's Trilokpuri still could not procure drinking water for its students during last year’s winters.
And this is one of the revelations that a series of Right to Information (RTI) applications expose. These applications were filed in several government schools in east Delhi to gauge the efficacy of the Right to Education (RTE) law and corruption in education.
“The students of the Trilokpuri school will repeat their testimony in front of senior Delhi government officials on Wednesday,” said an official of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). The organisation is conducting a public hearing into the nearly 800 complaints filed over the shoddy implementation of RTE in the Capital.
The NCPCR is the nodal authority under the law to monitor its implementation and is holding its first such public consultation with the NGO Joint Operation for Social Help (JOSH).
Another victim of the corrupt education system is a Muslim woman in east Delhi (name withheld to protect the identity of the child). She had to pay a bribe of R500 to get a R1,000 scholarship meant for children from the minority community even though she was supposed to get R2,000 as she had two children studying in the school.
In another case, a student was badly injured after he had a fall in his classroom. The school, instead of arranging for immediate medical attention, kept him in the school and sent two other students to inform his grandmother. The child’s hand has suffered permanent damage due to the delay in receiving medical attention.
Amit (name changed), a class 7 student in the government school in Trilokpuri, had complained to his class teacher about some of his classmates smoking in the class. The teacher instead slapped him, which injured his ear.
The NCPCR has now summoned senior officials from the Delhi government and the MCD to provide instant justice to complainants.