New Delhi: The recurring problem of overcrowded classrooms in Delhi govt schools is back in focus.
Some class sections have 70-80 students and, in certain cases, close to 90 students read in the same class. In 2023, data submitted by the directorate of education to Delhi High Court showed that 14 schools examined in northeast Delhi had 31,251 students and 374 classrooms, with an average student-classroom ratio of 83.5:1, according to officials. The figures varied sharply, reaching 190 students per classroom at Government Co-ed Middle School, Johripur, while two schools at Sabhapur had ratios of 102:1 and 109:1, officials said.
In a letter to the Delhi education department, an education activist has sought “urgent intervention” to limit the “excessively high student-classroom ratio” in several govt schools, particularly in east Delhi . The problem is in several schools, according to the letter. “The situation is particularly serious in senior secondary classes (XI and XII), where the student-classroom ratio remains exceptionally high, especially in classes involving subjects such as physics, chemistry and biology,” education activist and lawyer Ashok Agarwal, who has written the letter, said. A student of a govt school in Tukhmirpur said, “When I had joined the school in Class XI, I was told at the outset that I would have to attend classes only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Another student of a Khajuri Khas school said: “There are so many students in our school that many times, some have to sit in the library. “Every student deserves adequate space and a meaningful Right to Education,” the letter said.
The concern is not new or confined to east Delhi. Overcrowding has repeatedly surfaced in govt schools in northeast Delhi too, where high enrolment and limited classroom capacity have prompted schools to go for double shifts, repurpose libraries and other spaces and, in some cases, stagger attendance. In his latest representation, Agarwal has sought immediate measures to reduce the student-classroom ratio, arguing that inadequate space and seating were preventing some students from attending regularly.
Little had changed since then.