Friday, September 21, 2012

STUDENTS’ POSTCARDS REVEAL SHOCKING STATE OF AFFAIRS IN GOVT AND MCD SCHOOLS – DELHI HIGH COURT


Delhi High Court (A.K. Sikri ACJ & Rajeev Sahai Enlaw J) today expressed great displeasure over the state of affairs going on in Government and MCD schools wherein students are mercilessly beaten up by teachers, teachers remain absent for lectures and a dismal state of infrastructure prevails. Taking cognizance of the petition by Advocate Ashok Agarwal, based on 181 post-cards written by the students of Delhi government and M.C.D. schools in Madanpur Khadar to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice, and taking notice of the moving contents of the petition, the Division Bench consisting of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajeev Sahai Endlaw issued notices to the Government of NCT of Delhi and M.C.D directing them to file their response within 4 weeks. The school-children had written moving post-cards narrating the conditions in these schools, on issues ranging from corporal punishment to infrastructure and quality of teaching. Students had written that they are consistently abused and beaten up with fists, kicks, flinging shoes, sandals and canes. Some teachers fling shoes towards students for pointing out the teacher’s mistakes. Others are beaten up with shoe-blows for using teachers’ toilets, while students’ toilets are in an unusable state. Some teachers play Cricket in school instead of teaching. 140-150 students are made to accommodate in one classroom having not more than 20-30 benches. Classrooms have broken ceilings through which rainwater comes and collects in the classrooms and walls give electric shocks. “In the absence of conducive environment in the schools, the constitutional guarantee of quality education shall remain elusive”, argued Advocate Ashok Agarwal. Next date of hearing is 07.11.2012. Ashok Agarwal, Advocate 19 September 2012 M-09811101923

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