New Delhi, March 2 Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta laid the foundation stone for the permanent building of a Kendriya Vidyalaya in Khajuri Khas, a northeastern Delhi area, on Monday. She stated that this was a significant step towards strengthening educational infrastructure in the Yamuna floodplain region.
Gupta also inaugurated a temporary campus for the school and said the project would ensure that children in the area no longer have to travel long distances for quality education, according to an official statement.
The chief minister further said that a metro project in the Karawal Nagar area was expected to begin soon.
According to the statement, the total number of Kendriya Vidyalayas in Delhi now stands at 47. These schools cater to more than 1.19 lakh students, providing affordable and quality education and easing admission pressure on other institutions in northeastern Delhi.
"This is not just a school, but a major milestone for Karawal Nagar and the entire northeastern Delhi region," she said. The area had long suffered from a shortage of quality educational facilities and was dependent on just one Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gupta added.
The new school, she said, would provide students access to modern education facilities and help create a better academic environment in the region.
Education Minister Ashish Sood and Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra, along with senior officials, were present at the event, the statement said.
Referring to previous administrations, the chief minister said schools in the area were once in a poor condition, with multiple classes being run in a single room and students being called on alternate days due to a lack of classrooms.
She said coordinated efforts under the "triple-engine government" were now accelerating development in sectors such as education, roads, water supply, sewerage, flyovers, and healthcare.
The government's aim was not limited to literacy but to prepare children to face future challenges through modern, well-equipped government schools, Gupta added.
She highlighted that coordinated efforts by the Centre, the Delhi government, and civic bodies helped speed up development works.
Speaking on the occasion, Sood said the project marked the beginning of a new chapter in the region’s overall development, which faced a long-standing lack of basic educational infrastructure.
He said students in northeastern Delhi were earlier forced to travel four to five kilometres for schooling and that the need for additional schools had been felt for years.
The present government, after 27 years, took concrete steps to establish a second Kendriya Vidyalaya in the area, he said and expressed hope that government schools in Delhi would soon be equipped with world-class facilities.
Mishra said the establishment of the Kendriya Vidyalaya was a major achievement for the region and alleged that development in the Yamuna-floodplain areas had stalled for nearly two decades due to neglect by previous governments.
He said the reconstitution of the Trans-Yamuna Area Development Board led to the approval of projects worth Rs 728 crore, including more than Rs 300 crore for the Karawal Nagar assembly constituency.