How Delhi govt. is running overcrowded schools in ‘Southeast Asia’s most populated district’

Delhi's North East district faces severe overcrowding in schools, with one school for nearly 2,763 students, prompting proposed solutions.

The Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) recently disclosed that in the national capital’s North East district, 48 schools are operating out of 24 buildings, which are being used to accommodate 1,32,607 students. In other words, the Delhi government has one school for nearly 2,763 students in the district.

Not surprisingly, the school administrators are finding it tough to make space for the students despite running morning and evening shifts and, in some cases, going to the extent of converting offices, libraries, staff rooms, laboratories, etc., into classrooms.

The DoE shared the information in an affidavit filed on February 16 before the Delhi High Court, which is hearing a petition by NGO Social Jurist on the issue of overcrowded government schools in North East district.

In its affidavit, the DoE said the district, which in 2020 had witnessed one of Delhi’s worst communal violence in decades, is the most populated not just in the Capital but across Southeast Asia.

“Further, the COVID period has added woes to the situation because a large number of students from public schools have taken admission in government schools due to financial problems,” the Education Department said.

It also said the proximity of the district to the Uttar Pradesh border leads to a significant influx of students from migrant families seeking education in Delhi government schools.

Advocate Ashok Aggarwal, representing the NGO, had earlier told the High Court that the enrolment of students in the district’s government schools is unsustainably high, especially at schools located in Khajoori Khas, Tukhmirpur, Sonia Vihar, Sabhapur, and Karawal Nagar.