New Delhi. The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to the Delhi government on a petition regarding ‘full-time education’ not being provided in schools. The petition has alleged that some government schools in the north-eastern part of the national capital are studying for only two hours and in some, students are being called on alternate days.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subrahmanyam Prasad issued notice to the Delhi government on a PIL by non-governmental organization (NGO) ‘Social Jurists’. The NGO has argued that in these circumstances the Fundamental Right to Education guaranteed under the Constitution and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act is being violated.
Advocate Santosh Kumar Tripathi, appearing for the Delhi government, said that after Kovid-19, ‘everyone has reached to get admission in government schools’ and the government is conscious of infrastructure and other issues in the ‘densely populated’ area. Advocate Ashok Aggarwal, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the situation has persisted since April 2022 and the government has not taken any steps to resolve it. He said that two-hour classes are going on in some schools, while some schools are calling students on alternate days. I have repeatedly written to them, but no response has come, no action has been taken.
The petition filed through Agarwal and Kumar Utkarsh states that the students of SKV Khajuri, SBV Khajuri, GGSSS Sonia Vihar and GBSSS Sonia Vihar have complained that they are taught only for two hours every day, whereas GGSSS Khajuri, GBSSS Karawal The students of Nagar and GGSSS Sabhapur have complained that they have been asked to come to school on alternate days.
The petitioner submitted that on an average 5,000 to 6,000 students are registered in each of these schools and it is a “very worrying situation” that the Delhi government is not paying attention to the studies of these students. The next hearing on the matter will be on December 7. (Language)
