Rebuilt twice in 10 years, still unsafe for students: The story of Delhi’s ill-fated Shahbad Dairy School. New-delhi-news News

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

Nearly 5,000 students were affected after the building was declared unsafe in 2024 by then education minister Manish Sisodia, just four years after its formal inauguration.

Redeveloped twice in a decade – first in 2012 and again in 2020 – the Government Senior Secondary School in Shahabad Dairy remains unsafe for students, raising serious questions over the quality and accountability of construction.

The Shahbad Dairy building in outer Delhi has two schools which operate in two shifts – one for girls and the other for boys. Nearly 5,000 students were affected when the building, known locally as Lal School, was declared unsafe by then education minister Manish Sisodia in 2024, just four years after its formal inauguration. In 2025, after coming to power, the BJP accommodated the students at available places nearby. However, they are now forced to travel long distances to attend classes elsewhere.

On Tuesday, Education Minister Ashish Sood visited the dilapidated and leaking slab-clad building and described it as the “Taj Mahal of corruption” built during the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tenure.

But this is not the first time. The school was constructed in 2012 during the Congress rule under the leadership of late Sheila Dikshit. By 2015, security concerns emerged. In July 2015, safety concerns grew after students received electric shocks during the monsoon, leading to calls for action. Reportedly due to rain, there were cracks in the building which were causing water leakage. The old building was later declared unsafe and the students were relocated. In 2015, when AAP took over Delhi from Congress with an absolute majority, he initiated reconstruction.

What happened during 2016-20?

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

Official records seen by News18 show that it was a two-storey building where both schools were running in shifts. The 2017 proposal states that after the building was declared dangerous and unsafe, the students were shifted to another school in Prahladpur village.

A new four-storey (G+3) SPS structure was suggested in the Public Works Department (PWD) proposal of Delhi. The document said the proposal was based on the DPR April 2012.

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

Even though the deadline for completion was June 2018, the building took at least another year and a half to be completed, citing the urgency of nearby schools facing difficulties due to increase in the number of students.

Another document from the Education Department states that the work was delayed “due to the demolition of the old school building”. In a January 2019 document, the department had assured that all preparatory work had been done and new school building Will be completed by April 2019.

Although 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 children’s happiness did not last long.

An education department official told News18, “With the first rains in July-August (2020), the roof started leaking in classrooms and other parts as well. Tiles were also coming out in some parts of the school buildings. A letter was immediately written to the PWD.”

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

The majority of students enrolled in the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The repeated failure of successive governments to provide safe and improved learning environments underlines the systemic flaws in planning, implementation and accountability in the public education infrastructure.

Sood assured ‘strict action’

After the visit, Sood had assured that “strict action” would be taken against the guilty officials and responsible persons involved in the construction of the school.

The minister was informed that substandard materials were used in the construction of the school, “resulting in the building deteriorating within a few years”, the government said in a statement.

Plaster has fallen at many places, floors have been damaged at many places and windows in classrooms have been broken, the statement said.

Sood said, “Children have to walk two and a half to three kilometers, which causes a lot of inconvenience in their daily commute… I would call this school a monument of corruption… Our aim is to ensure that this school is restored as soon as possible and made available to local residents.”

The high fluoride content was also partly blamed for repeated damage to the building. However, Sood said residents have been living around the school for decades without any water or environmental problems that could have caused damage to the structure.

“There have never been any complaints about water quality or any issues that could have damaged the steel or cement of the building or caused the structure to deteriorate,” he said.

Taking a dig at the “education revolution” that AAP had named its work in the education sector, Sood said a thorough investigation would be conducted and strict action would be taken against those found guilty.

“The building will be repaired and rebuilt as soon as possible 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 in this school are separate and outside the scope of the ‘Delhi Classroom Construction Scam’ already under investigation.

The Enforcement Directorate has initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR lodged by the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch against then Education Minister Sisodia and then PWD Minister Satyendar Jain and others related to financial misappropriation of over Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of 12,748 additional classrooms between 2015 and 2023.

The ED said that despite the initial requirement of 2,405 classrooms, the scope of the project was arbitrarily increased to 7,180 equivalent classrooms, and later increased to 12,748 rooms without proper clearance or approval, resulting in massive cost overruns.

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

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

Therefore, if any wrongdoing is proven in the Shahbad Dairy School project, it will be separate from the investigation into the ongoing classroom construction scam.

For at least the next few months, until repairs and reconstruction are completed, thousands of students from underprivileged families will remain displaced from their neighborhood schools, even in crucial board classes. The promise of safe education for them is being delayed, even though several crores of rupees have been spent.

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