New Delhi: Concerns have been raised over the absence of Urdu and Punjabi teachers in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools, with elected representatives warning that children’s education is suffering. Councillor Rafia Mahir, speaking at a recent MCD Standing Committee meeting, highlighted that textbooks are in Urdu and Punjabi but teaching, worksheets, and exams are conducted in Hindi. This, she argued, makes meaningful learning impossible for students enrolled in their mother tongue medium.
Investigations revealed that a 2011 amendment to MCD’s recruitment rules had removed provisions for hiring Urdu and Punjabi teachers. Rafia Mahir demanded that the amendment be reviewed and recruitment restarted to secure quality education through mother tongue instruction.
She also raised the issue of language rights for councillors, noting that many had registered their preference for Urdu, Punjabi, or English but continue to receive Action Taken Reports and meeting minutes only in Hindi. She questioned why translation was not being done despite translators being on record and asked why the agenda to hire translators had been rejected.
Mahir further stressed the need for accountability among MCD officials, saying public complaints are often ignored and that there is no time-bound system for redressal. She called for clear responsibility to be fixed on officers, especially Deputy Commissioners and Executive Engineers, for failing to act on councillors’ complaints.
The issue has drawn attention to the larger problem of language inclusion in Delhi’s civic bodies and its direct impact on both education and governance.
