No Nursery Vacancy in Delhi

Nearly 1.75 lakh children couldn’t get admission into nursery schools this year. It is due to the over population and shortage of schools. The mismatch between population and the availability of infrastructure creates a massive problem. Taking advantage of this gap, government officials, politicians and private players milk enormous money from the admission-seeking parents. Although Delhi is well established in the quality and quantity of education the future looks dim due to the heavy shortfall in the availability of seats. From nursery schools to universities there is a heavy shortage. Apart from the 14 million Delhi population there is a massive migration of students from Northern and Northern eastern states. This is bound to increase multifold with the better transport facilities available now. It can be controlled only by providing good social facilities like education and other infrastructure in the big migration states.

According to S.K. Bhattacharaya, chairman of School Action Committee: “government recognized private schools received over four lakh applications this year and approximately 1.75 lakh children were left out. The demand is far more than supply and thus those left out generally opt for playschools.”

Parents blame autonomous points system for the mess up in the nursery school admissions. Few brand names like DPS, Apeejay, Vasant Valley, Amity there is a big push and pull for the nursery school seats. Priyanshi Kapoor of New Friends Colony shuttled between her home and 15 different schools in south Delhi for her child’s admission She says “The admission procedure in schools is hardly transparent. My daughter couldn’t get through in the school where my husband and I scored alumni points. The entire nursery admission procedure has been a nightmare for us”

Schools give their own reasons for rejecting certain children. One of the hidden agenda of the school management during admission process is nepotism and highhanded corruption. Those in the high level of the school management are much sought after people in the capital. They use their clout to make substantial money in this time period. Transparency International should look into the amount of money changing hands in this huge corruption area.

One of the west Delhi principal says, “We look for a particular set of parents. For instance, children of businessmen don’t get enough points. In the admission process as many schools often prefer parents from the service class. It is seen that businessmen do not value education much ad it affects our results,”. This may sound reasonable but bribery can take the genuine sheen out of Delhi school admissions.

How many students can be accommodated in 1,976 private schools? The meager number of private schools create stampede. Even poor families want to send their children to private schools as they think that the government schools are not good for the children’s overall development. Those who cannot afford three square meals only opt for government schools.

The Delhi government has been constantly striving to develop the education in the capital. An extreme level of politics played by the public representatives and bureaucrats has been destroying the education. Now the challenge is to increase the number of schools in partnership with private and civil society organizations. Reducing the migration is another Himalayan challenge. All the neighborhood areas should have schools and the children must be encouraged to attend only their neighborhood schools. The biggest challenge for the government is to divert the public craze from private schools to sarkari ones. Before doing that it must give high quality education and better facilities. This is the most urgent work for Delhi government for now and in the future.

Schools as Malls

Everyone is bothered about the short term capital gains than the long term social dividends. This careless attitude of the government and people is playing havoc with the future of India. Almost all the projects are short-sighted. Whether unveiling education policy or environmental safety or rural development, all the proposals are hastily taken decisions. There are not enough of deliberations over the crucial decisions. Imagine the passing of 8 important bills in just seventeen minutes in the Lok Sabha. Following this ‘blind ayes have it syndrome’, the Delhi government has got a mad proposal from vested interests in its backyard to convert fifteen of its schools into shopping malls.

This silly proposal from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is to show its financial position in a better light. Prithviraj Shani, Chairman of the MCD education committee says TOI (2.1.2008, p.6) “We have identified 60 schools that have been lying vacant. A proposal to auction 15 schools has been forwarded to commissioner K.S.Mehra”.

60 of the MCD school campuses are up for sale to see swanky malls and hotels. Out of these sixty school sites, fifteen are already identified and sent for clearance from the government. In Delhi 65% of the primary schools are operated by the MCD with 9 lakh students availing education. Poor and very poor families sent their children to these schools. Another 4 lakh children are not going to school due to extreme poverty and other reasons.

The logic given to the sale proposal of MCD is that the existing sites are lying vacant for a long time. According to the Municipal officials, Delhi population is not keen to avail government education and they have reached upper economic level to send their children to rich private schools. Why the government is not enthusiastic in bringing 4 lakh not school going children? Ashok Nagar school which is 1.5 acres is for sale. But there are 1200 not schooling children in the same area. There are 30,000 children without adequate play fields in and around Ashok Nagar. School campuses in Karanpur 3,158 sqm, 2350sqm Moti Nagar East are declared as spots for sale. These areas too have many not school going children. How can the poor children avail schooling when there is no school? Mere site is not enough. There needs to be a building, teachers, incentives, sanitation and other basic necessities for learning.

This decision of the Delhi government is not surprising. Whoever comes to power they will work for rich and mighty. Poor goes poorer without any care from the government. All the common properties like schools, crematoriums, hospitals, parks are up for the sale. The ministry of railways sold lakhs of its land and projected its budget very good and earned the efficiently working administration. Similarly other ministries are following the trick of selling solid properties to show big liquid cash positions. In the interest to fool the public, the ministries are digging a long grave for the social collapse.

If the existing school lands are unused then convert them into playing grounds or make them old age homes or vocational education training centres but not as shopping malls. It is selling the family silver to buy a fancy toy. The Government of Delhi should learn from the past mistakes and others collapse. More investment in the social capital and increasing the availability of common property will strengthen the society in the long run. Just increasing the revenue without adequate social development is of no use. The early the government understands this truth it is better for the nation’s capital.