Despite the national capital’s claims of a world-class education model, the reality inside Delhi government schools tells a very different story. Across the city, thousands of students continue to grapple with the absence of the most fundamental amenities — clean drinking water and reliable electricity. What should be basic rights have instead become daily struggles, exposing gaping holes in the system.
When Patriot visited Rajkiya Sarvodaya Kanya Bal Vidyalaya in Dallupura, East Delhi, the sight was far from reassuring. With nearly 3,976 students enrolled, the school has only two water facilities installed in the playground. Students queue up during breaks just to fill bottles, often losing precious classroom hours in the process.
While solar panels gleam on the school’s rooftop, students say they bring little relief. Power cuts are a frequent ordeal, leaving classrooms sweltering during peak summer. Tanya Singh (name changed), a class 10 student, said, “In summers, it gets difficult to even sit in the classrooms. With nearly 50 students packed into one room and no fans during outages, it becomes a furnace.”
Parents, too, have little faith in the government’s much-touted education reforms. Raj Kumar, whose daughter studies at the school, said, “The government claims they’ve built world-class schools. But my daughter has to walk down three floors just to fill her bottle. If this is the condition, only private school students benefit from good education. Government school children are left to struggle for basics.”
The school principal was unavailable for comment.
Similar tales across the city
The crisis is not confined to one school. At Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School, Model Town, water coolers are confined to the ground floor, leaving students on higher floors no choice but to trek up and down multiple times a day. With more than 2,000 students enrolled, the lack of adequate drinking water points has turned a necessity into a burden.
In Shalimar Bagh, the situation is even worse. At the Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, taps often run dry, and there are no water coolers on the premises. Students carry bottles from home, but once they are empty, they are left thirsty through long school hours. The school also lacks solar panels, adding to the misery during power cuts. The principal’s office declined to comment. The school has a strength of 420 students.
At Sarvodya Kanya Vidyalaya, Pratap Nagar, the situation is no different, with no solar panels and no water coolers installed.
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A senior government school official, requesting anonymity, admitted that such conditions are widespread. “Over 80% of Delhi government schools still lack solar panel systems. Similarly, the availability of water coolers is far below the required ratio compared to student strength. In most cases, the quantity is either very limited or insufficient to meet daily needs.”
The official added that school funds are too meagre to address these gaps. “Some principals manage through donations, but otherwise it’s nearly impossible. Large stretches — from Shalimar Bagh and Adarsh Nagar to Burari and Ashok Vihar — have schools without solar panels or adequate coolers.”
Health crisis
Even where water supply or coolers exist, schools fail to provide water quality reports, claiming that surveys have never been conducted by the authorities.
“We don’t know about any such report as the concerned authorities never conducted any survey. However, we keep the water tankers clean so that the students get clean drinking water,” said one official.
A parent of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Rajiv Sharma (name changed), said, “We have strongly advised our children to not drink water from the school taps as these authorities do care about the health of students.”
Survey exposes systemic crisis
An internal Delhi government survey backs up these grim accounts. Conducted by the Department of Education’s Land and Estate branch across 799 schools, it uncovered widespread water and electricity shortages.
Out of 703 schools connected to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), 107 reported serious water problems. Fifty-nine said supply was intermittent, while 48 had little to none. Twenty-two schools survive entirely on tanker water, but only four have applied for permanent DJB connections. Ten schools have no supply at all — three due to reconstruction, while seven depend on neighbours or tankers, with just two having sought connections.
Another 64 schools rely on borewells or submersibles, raising concerns about water quality and safety.
The picture is only slightly better when it comes to electricity. Six schools have no connections at all, mostly because of reconstruction or shared premises. Of the 793 connected, 17 reported frequent outages that disrupt classes and examinations.
Government orders quick fixes
In response to the findings, the Directorate of Education issued directives on August 28, 2025, calling for immediate corrective action. Deputy Directors were told to ensure schools without DJB connections applied right away, and DJB was asked to fast-track six pending applications. Dedicated tanker supplies were ordered for schools dependent on temporary arrangements.
For electricity, the instructions were clear: schools must coordinate with discoms for uninterrupted service, install separate meters in shared premises, and explore solar energy as backup.
A senior DoE official confirmed the steps, saying the department had asked schools to share copies of their requests to DJB and discoms. The department, he added, would then coordinate with the concerned agencies to expedite connections. “Our priority is to resolve these issues without delay,” he said.
Children caught in the crossfire
Yet, for the students on the ground, the directives mean little unless quickly translated into action. The struggle for something as basic as a glass of clean, cold water or a fan that works in peak summer remains their reality.
In many schools, solar panels — touted as a green solution — remain uninstalled or underutilised. Even where they exist, like in Dallupura or Model Town, students continue to sit through long, sweaty hours during power outages, questioning whether the systems are functional at all.
Teachers, too, feel the pinch. With classrooms overcrowded and temperatures soaring, teaching becomes an exercise in endurance rather than education. Parents despair as their children’s health is put at risk daily.
A question of priorities
The crisis has reignited the debate over Delhi’s education model.
Aparajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents Association, said that for years the state government had promoted its schools as a showcase of reform, but the ground reality showed that even basic infrastructure had not kept pace with soaring enrolment numbers.
She asked, “What good are smart classrooms or digital boards if children cannot drink water or sit in a fan-cooled room? What does it mean to promise a ‘world-class model’ if the foundations are cracked at such a basic level? Do rich students only have a right to quality education?”
Gautam added, “The government needs to conduct a high-level enquiry on why the directives issued for the better infrastructure are not being implemented on ground. They should also have a meeting with the officials to know the issues which they are facing to implement the policies and resolve it on priority basis.”
