A third of MCD schools need structural repairs, says audit

More than 30% of primary schools run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) require major repair work, varying from fixing broken floors, exposed wall beams and leaking roofs to improving the condition of unhygienic washrooms and providing adequate classroom infrastructure, an assessment by the civic body has found.

MCD operates 1,578 primary schools running from 1,185 building complexes, which cater to around 8.67 lakh children in multiple shifts.

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According to the assessment by MCD’s education department undertaken last year, around 368 sites are in need of major building repair ( 31.05%) and 198 buildings need minor repair work (16.7%).

Only around half of the buildings (51.05%) were found to be in good condition, said the MCD report which was submitted to Delhi government on April 4.

A bulk of the schools which are in need for urgent repair are located in South zone (59 schools). The remaining such sites are in central zone (53), Najafgarh (36 ), north Delhi’s Keshavpuram zone (35 schools) and Shahdara South zone (33 ) in east Delhi.

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The civic body estimates that it will require around ₹102.4 crore for undertaking the major and minor repair works in the schools, while another ₹60 crore will be required for developing new buildings at 14 locations.

Municipal primary school teachers’ unions rue that the dilapidated school infrastructure, besides the absence of security guards and safety provisions. Kuldeep Khatri, who heads Shikshak Nyay Manch Nagar Nigam, one of the municipal teachers’ unions, said that the presence of such schools is much more widespread in outer areas of north Delhi.

“Toilet complexes are terrible and unfit for use at many sites while iron rods are exposed and tiles are broken in classrooms. We have such schools in Rohini Sector-3, Sultanpuri C-6 and C-4, Pitampura. A complete audit should be carried out to assess the safety levels, as some of these schools are not very old,” Khatri said.

A surprise inspection on Monday by education minister Atishi and Delhi mayor Shelly Oberoi found a primary school in a similar condition at Wazirabad village. The “students in junior classes were found sitting on the floor, the principal was not present”, “the school was in extremely unhygienic condition” with no drinking water, according to Oberoi.

A senior municipal corporation official said that the repair fund requirement has been presented before the Delhi government, while the civic body is also taking up regular maintenance work within limited financial resources. MCD also provides principals of the schools ₹75,000 to ₹1,25,000 annually for minor repairs. These funds were fully utilised last year, the official said.

Besides poor funds, a policy paralysis in the municipal body due to an unfinished inaugural meeting and the formation of standing committee being in limbo has also led to non-clearance of projects.

At present, MCD has CCTV cameras in 570 schools while policy proposal for installation of cameras in 615 others needs to be cleared by the standing committee. Another project to hire private security guards is waiting to be approved, the official cited above said. “Last year, we identified 27 worst school buildings where special repair works are being carried out. The repair has been completed at 14 schools while it is under process at 11 locations,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

“During the inspection, it was found that children in one class are forced to sit on the floor as there are no desks available. In another classroom, half of the room is filled with old broken desks. The classroom floor was also broken, and there were mosquitoes breeding in one corner...,” her office said in a tweet.

Education minister Atishi blamed the schools’ condition on the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party “being in power in MCD for 15 years”. “The neglect shown towards the school is a reflection of the careless attitude towards the future of our children,” she said.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that Atishi and Oberoi’s criticism of the existing MCD school infrastructure is politically biased. “Keeping in mind the financial constraints MCD was working under for the last eight years, the BJP did all they could to maintain MCD primary schools. MCD schools have a better pupil-teacher ratio than Delhi government schools. 90% MCD schools have well-ventilated buildings, digital classrooms with libraries, and they regularly provide books, stationary and mid-day meal to students,” he said.

An MCD spokesperson did not comment on the matter.