She’s missing school because of MCD delay

Whenever five-year-old Aniya’s friends in her neighbourhood discuss their schools — the games they played in during free classes or their homework — she is at loss for words, reports Neelam Pandey.

Whenever five-year-old Aniya’s friends in her neighbourhood discuss their schools — the games they played in during free classes or their homework — she is at loss for words.

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Aniya Kumar has not been able start school for the past one year because of an error in her birth certificate.

“Schools require a birth certificate or any document proving their place and age of birth to get admission,” said L.V. Sehgal, vice-chairman National Progressive School Council.

When Aniya was born in 2005, her father had inadvertently spelt his wife’s name incorrectly at the hospital, Dr Hedgewar Arogya Sansthan in East Delhi. Her mother’s name is Sarvjeet but on the certificate it is Sangeeta.

Her 73-year-old grandfather Durga Prasad said, “When the schools asked for her birth certificate, we realised the mistake.”

“We asked the hospital to make the correction in 2008. After dilly dallying for months, they told us to get in touch with the MCD’s district health officer of Shahdara (south) zone in 2009.”

Prasad said he wrote to the Chief Minister as well as the health minister, who directed his case to the MCD.

“I have been making rounds of the MCD’s zonal office as well as the headquarters in Chandni Chowk but nothing has come of it,” Prasad.

Sarvjeet had first made a request to the medical superintendent of Dr. Hedgewar Arogya Sansthan for making correction in respect of her name on June 10, 2008 (a copy of which is with HT).

The matter was again brought to the notice of the hospital by another application written by Durga Prasad on February 10, 2009.

After getting no response from the MCD, Prasad again wrote to the Minister of Health and Family Welfare on January 13 this year asking them to take action against the DHO of Shahdara south zone.

The civic agency’s director of press and information, Deep Mathur, said, “It is not a simple case of birth certificate but requires change of name. We will look into the matter.”