Closure threat sparks outcry at oldest institute for blind

The Directorate of Education has ordered the immediate closure of the historic Institute for the Blind at Panchkuian Road, New Delhi, citing alleged violations of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, and the Delhi School Education Act, 1973. In response, the school management has appealed for police intervention to evict “miscreants” from the hostel and is urgently seeking recognition status for the institution.“We are the oldest school for blind children in the country. If the government shuts us, where will our students go?” said JP Sharma, office secretary of the school.

According to the management, repeated applications for recognition have been made over the past three decades but were allegedly denied due to missing land records. “How can we produce land records? This land was allotted to us during Partition,” Sharma said. He added that documents proving seven decades of uninterrupted operations had already been submitted.

However, the closure order came amid rising tensions within the school.

Last year, Sharma lodged a complaint with the SHO at Amar Colony, alleging that some students had physically threatened him. In his letter, he wrote that during a night inspection on July 20, 2023, “Nitesh, Aasman and Arvind Kumar ran after me to beat or kill me, but I somehow managed to come out of the gate of the school and reached my home by the grace of God.”

The issue of student unrest has persisted at the school.

In May this year, CK Chaturvedi, the receiver appointed by an Additional District Judge, reported that students who had already passed the 12th grade had forcibly re-entered and occupied the hostel. “It is surprising that no action has been initiated, despite repeated requests made to the Police Station,” he wrote.

“It is requested that these eight persons be identified and called to the Police Station to advise them to leave the hostel, failing which a case of criminal trespass should be registered against them," he added.

Sharma emphasised that, instead of ordering closure, the government and police should focus on restoring order. “Police should help us evict the ex-students who have completely collapsed our operations,” he said.

The Institute for the Blind, registered under the Societies Act of 1860, is recognised as the oldest blind school in India and has previously been recorded in the Limca Book of World Records.

After the school reported two POCSO cases in the last two months, the area's Child Welfare Committee (CWC) issued an order to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), demanding immediate removal of the students who have already passed Class XII and continue to stay in the hostel.

Following this, on September 3, 2025, the ACP wrote to the DCP directing to "take necessary action into the matter and apprise the committee directly on or before next day of hearing, that is on October 11."