Shift change results in drop-out in this school

Until last year, 19-year-old Saheb-e-alam, a class XII student at Government Boys Senior Secondary School in  Delhi’s Bawana JJ Colony, was dreaming of completing his schooling and joining Delhi University. But, with the school, which was operating in the morning shift since 2008, turning into an evening one, Alam quit his studies.

Unaware of what his name represents-- lord of the universe - he now roams the streets, pushing his vegetable cart. Alam is among tho 400 students, who dropped out of the school after its shift changed in July last year.

“Most of the students in our school used to work in the evening to support their families. Many of them have even stopped attending classes since then. I am the only source of income for my family of four. I could not let them work and attend classes myself,” he said.

The decision to convert the school into an evening one was taken after the neighbouring Government Girls Senior Secondary School ran out of space. The government then decided that classes for girls classes IX-XII will shift to the boys’ school building. The boys were shifted to the evening shift. The change was followed by protests.

The Principal also acknowledged a “mass exodus” from his school. “We recently wrote to the Directorate of Education and made some suggestions to resolve the problem,” said Umesh Kumar Singh, Principal of the boy’s school.

Teachers at the school claimed that the strength of their classes is not even half of what it was until last year. “We have lost around 400 students from the schools in last few months.We had around 3300 students until June last year which are now slipped to 2900. Majority of our students work in evenings to support their families and can’t shift the timing of their work. There should have been a proper survey of the socio-economic situation of the area before changing the shift of its only school for boys,” says a teacher at the school, who wished to remain anonymous.

“The girl’s school had only 33 rooms and there were 5,000 students. And, that is why they were shifted to our school. We could not have compromised with their safety by changing their shift,” Singh added.

Explaining the rationale behind the move, officials claimed that overcrowding in both the morning shift schools was affecting their overall functioning. “There were more than 150 children per classroom. It was difficult to accomodate these students in the existing infrastructure. We are soon to construct new classrooms in these buildings,” said Atishi Marlena, advisor to Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia.

Meanwhile, the students, who are attending the classes, claimed that the quality of education they were receiving in the morning shift was far better. “Earlier, we used to have eight periods, each of 40 minutes duration. But now, only first two periods are of that duration and rest are being cut short to 25 minutes. The teachers also don’t take interest in teaching after the tea break,” said Rakim Hussain, a class IX student, who skips school on every Tuesday to set up a makeshift shop in weekly vegetable market.

"The school is also short-staffed, with only 43 permanent teachers for more than 2900 students. Rest of them are guest teachers," he added.

Activists working in the locality say that the only solution is to construct a new building should. “The decision of shift change has financially affected the students in the locality and compelled many to leave their studies. The government should immediately look into the matter,” said Dinesh, a member of Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), a students’ group.