This school is wired...

new delhi: A narrow congested lane leads one to the only MCD Urdu medium primary school, in Chauhan Bangar area of Seelampur. In this minority dominated locality, 3,500 students attend the Urdu and Hindi medium schools which share the same premises under the shadow of danger.
Transformers supplying electricity to the Chauhan Bangar-Jaffrabad areas are located right inside the premises.As if that was not bad enough, dirty tap water and virtually non-existent toilets add to the misery of the students.
Many locals use the premises as a dumping ground and abandoned classrooms provide the perfect refuge for petty criminals. Ironically, both MLA Chaudhary Mateen Ahmad and MCD councillor Razia Sultana live nearby. But so far, repeated complaints and reminders to the MCD education department have failed to stir the system into action. The school authorities say they are doing their bit, but problems like the presence of criminal elements is beyond their control. In fact, a reply from the school to an RTI application filed by Prathmik School Bachao Abhiyan a network related to condition of schools in the city reflects the many horrors the school faces.
The reply sent in May 2008 talks of damaged switch boards with open wires in classrooms, an old rundown classroom block that needs to be demolished and the presence of transformers. Nothing has changed since then.
As soon as one enters the school premises, one can find children playing around the large transformers that are placed along one side of the boundary wall. Though warning signs hang on the railings enclosing the transformers, they are not enough to keep the children away. Boys have been known to scale the railings to retrieve cricket balls which had fallen inside, oblivious to the very real threat of electrocution.
Move ahead and heaps of kitchen waste and plastic bags strewn around meets the eye. As does the fact that children play in the waste. According to the teachers, the garbage is dumped regularly by residents of houses enclosing the schools from all sides.
The classrooms are a picture of neglect. Window panes are broken, exposed wires stick out from damaged switchboards, and desks and chairs are non-existent. Teachers and students say local miscreants make their way into the premises only to damage and steal whatever they can. A proposal to put up a barbed wire on the boundary wall is being prepared.
Speaking to Times City, students said the tap water is so dirty that they have to go home if they feel thirsty and the same holds true for the toilets. Water purifiers have been provided by MCD, but they are yet to be installed.
When contacted, MCD commissioner K S Mehra claimed this was the first time he was hearing about the problems facing the school. "I will not be able to comment till I see the school but certainly the needful will be done to improve the situation," he said.