Four years on, 900 students still wait for school to open

Satellite images of the vacant plot after the building was demolished (right) the Gandhigram school building before demolition

Close to 900 students from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Juhu Gandhigram Mumbai Public School opposite the landmark ISKCON temple have been grappling with uncertainty since 2019 when they were relocated to schools several kilometres away. Four years on, their woes remain as unfortunately, BMC is unable to rebuild their demolished school citing Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms issues.

After the demolition of their original school premises in 2019, which was declared dilapidated, approximately 900 students were relocated to two different municipal schools in Vile Parle and Andheri. The BMC also introduced a dedicated BEST bus route to assist these kids with transportation. However, following the students' transfer to the Andheri and Vile Parle municipal schools, some opted to discontinue their education due to the distance from their place of residence.

Repairs neglected

The school's ground-plus-four structure was facing a shutdown in 2008, but it was revived by the local citizens group Nagriksatta, which operated an English medium school from the school's premises. At the time, the school was looked upon as a model school by many municipal schools.

The Sanyas Ashram municipal school in Vile Parle where some of the students were relocated. Pic/Satej Shinde

In 2017 school officials, citizens groups and BJP Legislator Ameet Satam reached out to the civic body regarding the building's structural condition. Thereafter, the BMC roped in Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) to conduct a third-party audit. The structural audit team from VJTI recommended that the building needed urgent repairs. However, during a re-audit by the VJTI two years later in 2019, the building was marked under the C1 category, which meant it had to be vacated immediately and pulled down.

While officials from the civic school infrastructure cell claimed that a proposal to repair the building was underway and the civic body was awaiting a nod from the standing committee, deeper cracks were visible in the structure. Activists and locals have claimed that the BMC delayed the repairs of the school and now it is further delaying the reconstruction under the pretext of CRZ regulation and other rules.

"The building needed repair. Had it been repaired immediately, students wouldn't have to travel so far to Andheri and Vile Parle. A few people I know including our domestic help and domestic help of others in our housing society discontinued the education of their daughters fearing they would have to travel so far," said a Juhu resident who did not wish to be named.

Activist speaks

Talking to mid-day, environmentalist and social activist, Zoru Bhatena, who along with a local resident had written to the then BMC commissioner Praveen Pardeshi to reconsider the decision to demolish the school building and had questioned the very idea, said that there was no need to demolish the building. "The hardship of children who go to BMC schools keeps multiplying with varied factors. In the case of the Gandhigram school building at Juhu, it was declared dilapidated and demolished in 2019-2020. And, even now in 2023, work to rebuild it hasn't even started. School kids now have to travel from areas near ISKCON temple all the way up to Vile Parle station to attend school," he said.

According to Bathena, the school at Vile Parle is in a worse condition than the Gandhigram school was in, and the relocated students are forced to adjust in (crammed) classrooms shared with existing Vile Parle school kids. "An entire generation of school kids may never see this school building again as I don't see it being reconstructed for another five years. Four years have already been wasted citing approvals and sanctions. This is the plight of Mumbai," Bhatena said, adding that as per his knowledge, the Sanyas Ashram school where the students were shifted was under the C2 category (needing structural repairs) at the time.

What officials say

Mahendra Ubale, deputy city engineer of BMC's school infrastructure cell, told mid-day that the process to re-construct the school is underway. "The area where the building was standing and will be reconstructed is under CRZ. The delay was because we were awaiting CRZ NoC. We received the NoC on March 3 this year, following which a tender for the proposed reconstruction of the school building was invited on June 13. In the absence of a civic standing committee, we will need approval from the administrator (BMC commissioner). Now we are awaiting the required approval and sanction from the administrator and the completion of the tendering process, following which the reconstruction will begin," Ubale said. Asked about when the entire process will be completed, Ubale confidently said, "The process and reconstruction will be completed within the next one and a half to two years."

900
Approx no of students relocated

2019
Year school building was demolished