Education Dept seeks recognition documents from school for blind

A week after directing the immediate closure of the country’s oldest school for the blind, the Institution for the Blind at Panchkuian Road, the Directorate of Education (DoE) has written to the school, seeking submission of documents for recognition.

In a letter dated September 29, the DoE wrote, “Reference is invited to your letter dated September 12, 2025 regarding the request for recognition up to middle level under DSER 1973 for Institution for the Blind, Punchkuian Road…In the said letter, you have provided a date-wise brief of previous correspondence with the Directorate of Education (DoE). However, copies of the referred correspondence and related documents have not been attached/submitted along with your letter.”

“You are hereby directed to submit copies of all referred documents/correspondence at the earliest,” the letter said.

However, the DoE also directed the school to submit a compliance report of the closure notice issued on September 20, 2025.

Responding to the letter, JP Sharma, Office Secretary of the school, said: “This is a total contradiction. The directorate is asking for documents to proceed for recognition of the school, but is also saying to submit compliance of closure notice, how is this possible? In case we comply with the closure notice, it means we have shut the school, then what is the use of asking for documents for recognition.”

Sharma said the documents sought by the DoE had already been submitted multiple times. “These same documents have been submitted to the DoE several times before and we have submitted them again,” he said.

Sharma had earlier shared with The Tribune the letter dated September 12, 2025, addressed to the DoE, in which the management requested recognition for the school up to middle level. This letter provides a date-wise brief of the school’s past correspondence with the Education Department.

The latest development comes in the wake of the September 20 closure order issued by the Deputy Director of Education. The order directed immediate closure of the Institution for the Blind, citing violations of the Right to Education Act, 2009, and the Delhi School Education Act, 1973. The school was found to be operating without mandatory recognition.

The order also referred to a fact-finding report prepared after a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) notice, which found deficiencies in infrastructure and safety arrangements. Concerns had also been raised about minors being housed with adults.

“In accordance with the provisions of Section 19 of the RTE Act, 2009 and Section 24 of the Delhi School of Education Act, 1973, the operation of such an unrecognised and unsafe school is illegal, and makes the management liable to penal, civil, and criminal consequences,” the closure order had stated.

The Institution for the Blind was established in Lahore in 1939 and shifted to Delhi after Partition in 1947. The school management says it has been petitioning the government for recognition for decades but has faced hurdles over land records.

While the school argues that it has repeatedly provided proof of operations for more than seven decades, official correspondence from 2020 notes that the land at Panchkuian Road is under the control of the Delhi Waqf Board and cannot be allotted to the institute.

Meanwhile, the DoE’s latest letter has left the management questioning whether the government intends to proceed with recognition or enforce closure.