Built Twice In 10 Years, Yet Unsafe For Students: The Story of Delhi’s Ill-Fated Shahbad Dairy School

Last Updated:January 28, 2026, 12:24 IST

Close to 5,000 students were impacted after the building was declared unsafe in 2024---just four years after its formal inauguration by then education minister Manish Sisodia

The Government Senior Secondary School in Shahbad Dairy in 2020 (top); and (below) its current condition. (X)

Redeveloped twice in a decade—first in 2012 and again in 2020—the Government Senior Secondary School in Shahbad Dairy continues to remain unsafe for students, raising serious questions over construction quality and accountability.

The building in Outer Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy houses two schools operated in two shifts—one for girls and another for boys. Close to 5,000 students were impacted after the building, locally famous as Lal School, was declared unsafe in 2024—just four years after its formal inauguration by then education minister Manish Sisodia. In 2025, after coming to power, BJP accommodated the students in nearby available spaces. Now, however, they are compelled to travel longer distances to attend classes elsewhere.

On Tuesday, education minister Ashish Sood visited the dilapidated building with falling and leaking slabs, calling it the “Taj Mahal of corruption" built during the term of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

But this is not the first time this has happened. In 2012, the school was constructed during the Congress rule under late Sheila Dikshit. By 2015, safety concerns emerged. In July 2015, safety concerns escalated after students suffered electric shocks during the monsoon, prompting demands for action. The building had reportedly developed cracks allowing water leakage due to rains. The old building was later declared unsafe and students were shifted. In 2015, when the AAP took over Delhi’s charge from Congress with a full majority, they initiated rebuilding.

What Happened During 2016-20?

The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) approved the rebuilding of the school at a sanctioned cost of Rs 32.44 crore in September 2017 and the original completion target was June 2018. However, it was delayed to April 2019. The school was formally inaugurated in January 2020.

Official record, seen by News18, shows that it was a double-storeyed building where both the schools were operating in shifts. After the building was declared dangerous and unsafe, students were shifted to another school at Prehladpur village, the proposal from 2017 reads.

The proposal from Delhi’s Public Works Department (PWD) had suggested a new four storeyed (G+3) SPS structure. This proposal, the document added, was based on DPR April 2012.

The cost of the school building was pegged at Rs 26.48 crore, while Rs 60 lakh was for development work in the building complex. Another 3.61 crore was kept for furniture.

Even as the deadline for the completion was June 2018, citing the urgency of the nearby schools facing hardships due to the increase in the strength of students, the building took at least a year-and-a-half more to complete.

Another document from the education department stated that the work was delayed “due to demolition of the old school building". In the January 2019 document, the department had assured that all the preliminary works have been done and the new school building will be completed by April 2019.

Even as the school was inaugurated in January 2020, the entire project was completed only in March 2020, officials aware of the details told News18. But the happiness of the children was short-lived.

“With the first rains in July-August (2020), the leakage of the ceiling started in classrooms and in other parts as well. In parts of the school buildings, tiles were also coming out. Letters were written to the PWD immediately," an official from the education department told News18.

When asked, a PWD official confirmed that the contractor was issued notices for repairs between 2022 and 2024. However, no improvement in the situation took place. In March 2024, the contractor was issued a show cause notice asking why they should not be barred from participating in PWD tenders in future. A contractual dispute between the contractor and the Delhi government is pending before the Delhi High Court.

Most of the students enrolled in the school come from underprivileged backgrounds. The repeated failure of successive governments to provide a safer and better learning environment underscores systemic lapses in planning, execution and accountability in public education infrastructure.

Sood Assures ‘Strict Action’

Sood, after the visit, had assured that “strict action" will be taken against the guilty officers and responsible persons involved in the construction of the school.

The minister, the government said in a statement, was informed that substandard material was used in the construction of the school, “as a result of which the building deteriorated within just a few years".

The plaster had fallen off at several places, the flooring was damaged at multiple spots, and the windows in the classrooms were broken, the statement added.

“Children have to walk two-and-a-half to three kilometres, causing significant inconvenience in their daily commute… I would call this school a monument of corruption… Our objective is to ensure that this school is restored and made available to the local residents at the earliest," Sood added.

For the repeated damage to the building, high fluoride content was also partly blamed. However, Sood said residents have lived around the school for decades without any water or environmental issues that could have damaged the structure.

“There has never been any complaint regarding water quality or any such issue that could have damaged the steel or cement of the building or caused the structure to deteriorate," he added.

Taking a jibe at the “education revolution", what the AAP had termed its work in the education sector, Sood said a thorough investigation will be conducted and strict action will be taken against those found guilty.

“The building will be repaired and reconstructed at the earliest so that all facilities can once again be provided to the children of this area," he assured.

Not Part of the Ongoing “Classroom Construction Scam"

Official government records show that the Shahbad Dairy school redevelopment was a standalone project, suggesting that the alleged corruption and lapses at this school are separate from, and outside the scope of, the ‘Delhi classroom construction scam’ already under investigation.

The Directorate of Enforcement has initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch against Sisodia, the then education minister, and Satyendar Jain, the then PWD minister, along with others pertaining to financial misappropriation exceeding Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of 12,748 additional classrooms between 2015 and 2023.

The ED stated that despite an initial requirement for 2,405 classrooms, the project scope was arbitrarily increased to 7,180 equivalent classrooms, and subsequently to 12,748 rooms without proper sanction or approvals resulting in massive cost escalations.

The official documents, seen by News18, confirmed that the two projects are different proposals, although they were approved around the same time.

The rebuilding of the school was approved by the EFC in September 2017 while the construction of 12,748 classrooms was approved in March 2018 at a cost of Rs 2,892 crore.

So, any wrongdoing, if established in the Shahbad Dairy school project, will be separate from the ongoing classroom construction scam probe.

For at least the next couple of months, until repairs and reconstruction are completed, thousands of students from underprivileged families remain displaced from their neighbourhood school, even those in crucial board classes. For them, the promise of safe education continues to be delayed, even after several crores have already been spent.

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