Kejriwal hails MCD’s decision to enhance security at schools

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Wednesday passed a proposal to enhance security at all primary schools it administers, announcing that it will install 10,786 CCTV cameras and deploy 2,949 security guards across these educational institutes. The civic body’s house of councillors also passed a proposal to deploy 3,640 sanitation workers exclusively for municipal schools.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal hailed the move, saying the Aam Aadmi Party — in power in the state as well as the civic body — is working on education on a priority basis.

An MCD official said 15 CCTV cameras were installed in 399 school sites each which fell under the jurisdiction of the erstwhile South and East MCDs, while the erstwhile North MCD had four cameras in each of its 120 municipal primary schools. “There have been demands from all 12 administrative zones to bring all schools at parity, and 10,786 cameras along with accessories will be installed in 786 municipal primary schools,” the official said.

The project to enhance security at MCD schools includes the maintenance of the CCTV camera system for four years.

Welcoming the move, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said MCD provided the people of Delhi with “another good news”.

“Today there is another good news for the people of Delhi. We have passed the proposal of 6589 new jobs in Delhi Municipal Corporation. These new jobs will include 2949 security guards and 3640 cleaning personnel. MCD schools will now have separate sweepers for cleanliness and security guards for security,” Kejriwal posted on X (formerly Twitter), after the conclusion of the corporation meeting.

“Like the Delhi Government, we are also working on education on priority basis in the Municipal Corporation. These new jobs will also provide employment to many of our youth. Our aim is to prepare the coming generation and provide them a better environment. We will not allow any shortcomings in the field of education at any level,” he added.

Mayor Shelly Oberoi said revamping the education sector is a priority for the AAP. “The municipal schools did not have dedicated security guards and sanitation workers, due to which the teachers were burdened with this additional work. We are implementing Delhi government’s education model and the policy proposal has been cleared,” she said.

MCD operates 1,535 primary schools from nursery to Class 5, in which approximately 800,000 students are enrolled. These primary schools also feed the government schools from sixth standard onwards.

Over the last few years, MCD schools have seen multiple security lapses. In March this year, an alleged sexual assault took place in an MCD school in east Delhi’s Ghadoli. A month before that, in February, a 45-year-old MCD school teacher in east Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar area was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl on the school premises. Before that, in April 2022, a man had barged into an MCD primary school in Bhajanpura and sexually assaulted two eight-year-old students.

Ramniwas Solanki, who heads the Nagar Nigam Shikshak Sangh, a union of teachers in MCD schools, said they have been demanding that security guards be deputised at schools over the last decade, but their requests were ignored. “We welcome this development. This should have occurred several years back. Security of the children in schools should be the first priority of the administration. There have been so many incidents over the last years in places like Ashok Vihar and Bhajanpura but no concrete step has been taken by the corporations to appoint permanent guards at our schools or install cameras. We welcome that this is finally happening,” Solanki said.