‘Aided’ schools situation in city ‘pathetic’, says Delhi high court

New Delhi: The AAP government was pulled up by the Delhi high court on Monday for a lack of infrastructure and basic amenities, like water and toilet facilities, in a fully-aided government school.

Terming the situation in the 100 per cent government aided school as “pathetic”, a bench of acting chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar ordered immediate provision of water and toilet facilities in the school.

The court also directed the deputy education director to conduct .. a physical inspection of Alok Punj Senior Secondary School at Karawal Nagar in northeast Delhi to ascertain its other infrastructural inadequacies. The school was run earlier by a society, but was taken over by the Delhi government later.

The bench ordered the education department official to file a status report within 10 days after carrying out the inspection and listed the matter for further hearing on July 30.

“It is 100 per cent aided. Look at the facilities. This is pathetic,” the bench said, adding “immediate steps be taken to ensure water and toilet facilities are made available (at the school)”.

The direction came on a PIL by NGO Social Jurist, filed through advocate Ashok Garwal and seeking directions to the Delhi government to provide adequate infrastructure and amenities to the faculty and over 2,600 students of the school.

The NGO has also claimed in its plea that the land earmarked for a playground for the school kids was being used for dumping garbage and domestic waste.

The petition also alleged lack of sufficient teaching faculty in the school with 72 posts of teachers being vacant.