HC directs Delhi govt to act against illegal schools

New Delhi, Feb 9 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today directed the Delhi Government to initiate action against hundreds of unauthorised and illegal private schools that were not adhering to the safety norms.

A division bench of Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice H R Malhotra said the authorities had failed to discharge their duties in preventing the mushrooming of so many unauthorised schools, jeopardising the lives of thousands of children.

''Safety norms should not be compromised when it was the case with Children,'' said the bench.

The Court directed the Director Education of Delhi to file a status report by February 13, on the state of affairs in eleven schools which were visited by the court-appointed committee recently.

The Committee comprising Y V V J Rajasekhar, Deputy Director of Delhi Development Authority(DDA), R K Wadhera, Assistant Director(Education) and Advocate Ashok Agrawal visited eleven schools in various localities of Delhi.

In its report, the committee stated that except one school-- R J Public School in Mahipalpur, rest were not recognised by the municipal authorities.

Some of these schools are Adarsh Public School at Rama Road, Modern Public School at Vasant Kunj, Vasant Public School at Massodpur, St William Public School at Vasant Kunj, Sri Ram Public School, Govindpuri, Moon Light Public School, Govindpuri, L B School, R K Puram.

''Except the DDA-allotted schools, the rest are maintained as the property of the individuals,'' said the report.

Stating various lacunae in these schools, the report said many did not have fire fighting equipment, some with no electricity, some in commercial areas and no playground.

Mr Agrawal appearing for Social Jurist, a voluntary agency, alleged that there were 10,000 schools running in the capital without any registration.

More than six lakh students were studying in these schools, which did not have proper buildings, basic amenities and sufficient qualified teachers.

The petitioner sought the direction of the court to the authorities to regulate the schools for the better interest of the students.

UNI