Govt orders immediate closure of India’s oldest school for blind

The Deputy Director of Education (DDE), under the Government of National Capital Territory (GNCT), Delhi, has ordered the immediate closure of “Institution for the Blind - Andh Vidyalaya”, country’s oldest residential school for blind children, citing violations of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, and the Delhi School Education Act, 1973.

The order dated September 20, 2025, said the institute at Panchkuian Road in New Delhi district is being run without obtaining the mandatory certificate of recognition.

“Despite being issued letters elaborating substantial and material deficiencies in the school’s application for recognition, no remedial action has been taken by the school management,” the order stated.

Earlier, a fact-finding report following a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) notice had found that the school lacks basic infrastructure and safety arrangements. Concerns have also been raised about the alarming practice of minors being accommodated alongside 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 Deputy Director of Education noted.

In the past two months, two cases of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) have been reported at the school, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) concerned confirmed to The Tribune.

However, JP Sharma, office secretary of the school, alleged that the institute operations had been gravely disturbed by former students who continue to stay despite multiple attempts of eviction.

“These adults have caused complete chaos. We have called the police multiple times, but even they refuse to take action against them because they are blind. Most of them are partially blind and even violent. They had even attacked me,” he alleged.

Established in 1939 in Lahore, the institute was shifted to New Delhi after the Partition in 1947. “This school has been running in Delhi since 1947, but the government has not yet recognised it,” said Sharma.

According to him, the management has repeatedly petitioned the Directorate of Education for recognition since 2013. “We have submitted all required documents and had several rounds of communication. We also informed the department that no record is available for the land ownership because it was allotted to us on Mahatma Gandhi’s verbal request just after Partition in 1947,” he said.

Sharma said the school had furnished documents showing possession of the land for more than five decades.

“The land in the possession of the Institution for the Blind at Panchkuian Road is part and parcel of the unacquired site and presently under the control of the Delhi Waqf Board. Therefore, it cannot be allotted in the favour of the institute by this office,” a 2020 letter from the Ministry of Urban Development had said.