Municipal school at G. B. Road may be dismantled

Municipal Councillors from the Sadar Paharganj Zone are planning to construct a commercial complex in place of a primary school on Shradhanand Marg, where many children from the Capital’s only red light area study.

As per official records of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the seven-decade-old school has 170 students on its rolls, of whom an overwhelming majority are children of commercial sex workers of the area.

A resolution passed by the Sadar Paharganj Zone Wards Committee at its meeting on December 2, approved dismantling of this one-storey school building, which was in a “bad shape”.

The Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee, Ashok Jain, who had moved the resolution, argued that not many students were studying in this municipal school. While the basement and ground floor would be used for a commercial establishment, the school would be permitted to operate from the first floor, he said. The second and above floors would be used for other purposes like office complexes, he added.

Arguing that its space was being encroached upon by unscrupulous elements, he claimed that this was the only option left before the authorities to protect the MCD property here. His party colleague from Paharganj, Anjali Sood, who had seconded the resolution, claimed there was no need of such a big school in this area.

However, civil right activists have condemned the resolution sent to the Municipal Commissioner through the Standing Committee for necessary action and report. This is the only school in the Capital where children from deprived sections of society get a chance to study. “Instead of taking necessary action to provide a conducive and peaceful atmosphere for these unfortunate children, the civic body is asking them to study in a commercial complex. We are going to oppose this,” said Khairati Lal Bhola, president of the Bharatiya Patita Uddhar Sabha, the non-government organisation working among commercial sex workers of the Capital.

Countering Mr. Jain’s argument that there were not many students in this school, Mr. Bhola claimed that according to official statistics 70 girl students were enrolled in the morning shift, while there were 100 boys in the evening shift. Mr. Jain, on the other hand, argued that there would be “no adverse impact on educational atmosphere of school as the entrance would be from the back lane”.

Alleging that the MCD was commercialising its social objective, Mr. Bhola said if the civic body and its elected representatives were really serious about upliftment of those belonging to deprived section of society, it should have constructed the building but used it for social-welfare purposes like running vocational training centre for these women and opening an AIDS Control Centre here, which was the need of the hour.