The construction work of channelizing rain and storm water discharge from the IGI Airport to Najafgarh Drain by constructing an underground 20 ft duct has necessitated the digging of the road in front of SPG complex in Dwarka Sector 8, which also houses a senior secondary KV with over 2000 students besides a junior wing. As a result, this ongoing construction work for some months now has led to closure of main entrance gate for the students. The students are now given entry access through a rear gate and they have to walk one way 1.30 kilometers to the school and then again back for their pickup.
While students somehow have got used to this routine, the parents too have to undertake this walk for PTMs as well as for bringing back sick child or any other issue related to their child requiring a visit to the school. Being housed in a high-security complex, there is a security protocol for parents to access the school in case of need and all parents understand this. However, after the gate was closed, parents have been finding it hard to deal with the long distance as their vehicles are not allowed. They allege there has been no advisory or an amended protocol and the guards at the gate not only refuse entry of even two-wheelers but at times display abusive behavior and language towards them.
During a PTM last Saturday, expectant mothers, mothers with small kids, sick and those parents who are able to walk due to any condition as per some parents were refused to go inside with their vehicles. “They should have pitched tents at the gate itself and brought teachers here for the meeting. Authorities here are so ignorant that a school exists here,” said one parent. “There is no dearth of parking space, even the school compound is huge. For one Saturday, they could have allowed it. May be 10-20% of parents would have availed it,” said another. “I had to go to office and planned an hour for this PTM. I pleaded a lot with the gate staff, they didn’t listen. At least they could have talked to seniors, but instead shouted at me. So, I had to bring my child back as office work was important. Is being parent a sin in India?”, he questioned.
The school supposedly has a School Management Committee (SMC) and may have a parent representative on paper as well but most parents don’t know if it exists at all or it has a channel of communication for parents to raise their issues. Parents allege that school authorities instead of being proactive are those typical sarkari babus, who don’t see beyond four walls of their offices. “School authorities could have opened a new small gate near Metro station and made walking to school shorter and easy,” commented another.
Some parents prayed that the construction work at least on the portion of school gate completes early so that their bad treatment comes to an end.
