Over 100 students per classroom in several schools, Delhi govt tells high court in reply to PIL

Over a hundred students in a classroom – this is what several government schools in Northeast Delhi look like with high enrollment and fewer than the requisite number of classrooms, according to a counter affidavit that the Directorate of Education has filed before the Delhi High Court.

The student-classroom ratio at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sabhapur, was 123, with 3,197 students and only 26 classrooms. Similarly, the government school in Sonia Vihar has a student-classroom ratio of 104, while the figure was 80 for the school at Tukhmirpur. At Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya and the Government Girls Senior Secondary School at Khajuri Khas, it was found to be 79 each.

The Directorate of Education filed the counter affidavit in September after a PIL by the NGO Social Jurist last year pointed to issues in government schools in Northeast Delhi. The PIL alleged that classes were held only every alternate day or for two hours per day in Delhi government schools in Northeast Delhi, such as those in Khajuri Khas, Sabhapur, Sonia Vihar and Karawal Nagar.