Protests over denationalisation of Delhi government school

In defiance of the high courts order, it hasn’t been handed over to its legal owners.

KARACHI: There was a bit of drama at the Government Delhi School for Boys and Girls as students, teachers and parents vociferously protested on Thursday the imminent denationalisation of the institution.

As the press got wind of trouble stirring up at the dilapidated school building in Karimabad, it rushed to the spot with cameras. Some protesting students even pretended to swoon because of the oppressive heat but once the cameras stopped rolling, they promptly shot back up and burst into laughter. In the playground, students from grades one to 10 chanted, “Long live Delhi school! We will not give away our school!” The MQM’s elected representatives were also present at the protest.

The protest had been sparked after a meeting on May 17 between the president of School’s Old Boys Association, Bashir Ahmed Khan, and the education department’s secretary, to discuss the denationalisation of the institution as ordered by the Sindh High Court.

The educational institution, spread over six acres, was established by the Delhi Anglo-Arabic College and School’s Old Boys Association in 1964. The association’s general secretary, Dr Qazi Muhammad Wasiq, told The Express Tribune that three schools and one college had been established in four blocks to revive the legacy of the famous Anglo-Arabic School and Delhi College founded in 1790.

In 1972, the four blocks were handed over to the government under former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s policy of nationalisation. Then, in 2003, the government introduced a policy to revert schools nationalised during Bhutto’s era to their previous status. The school’s current students and teachers were to be moved to another spot.

But only one block - where the college was established - has been returned to the association and the issue of denationalising the other three has become a controversial since a political party has jumped into the fray, added Dr Wasiq. “Because of political influence, we decided that until the government decides to hand over the building, we will not pursue the matter even for the contempt of court.”

For his part, Dr Wasiq said if the government decides to hand over the school to the owners as per the court’s decision, they intend to raise the quality of education offered there. “As erroneously presented with ill-intentions, we are not businessmen. The association’s aim is to adopt all possible means to help the cause of education and the alma mater.”

The other side

The school’s principals and teachers claim the institution faces an uncertain future as the ‘legal owners’ - the Delhi Anglo-Arabic College and School’s Old Boys Association - had gone to court, seeking for the school to be denationalised. The high court ordered for the school to be denationalised and in 2007, the Supreme Court endorsed the decision.

Rubina Siddiqui, the primary section’s principal, said that more than 3,000 students are currently enrolled in the school and are taught in morning and evening shifts. A majority of the students come from low-income families and are only able to attend school because education is free. “The education department had to pay a monthly rent of Rs8,124 to the owners,” explained Siddiqui. But it had failed to pay the rent for many years, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Shamim Akhtar, the principal of the secondary section, said, “Denationalisation may deprive students of their right to free education as there is no other public school in the vicinity.” The principal claimed that the school has yet to receive an order to vacate the building.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2013.