Kids travelling several kilometres to different areas in the city for better school and higher education, poor facilities in government schools, lack of counselling for students, hostel facilities and poor sports facilities at schools. These are some of the problem areas related to education in the Northwest Delhi parliamentary constituency that few former Members of Parliament have bothered to address over the years. The constituency has around 18 lakh voters and also the highest number of youths, who remain deprived of a quality education in their own area. This Lok Sabha election, the main issue in the agenda of both Congress and BJP candidates Krishna Tirath and Meera Kanwaria vying for the Northwest seat is better education. The Northwest constituency has 10 Assembly seats – Narela, Badli, Rithala, Bawana, Mundka, Kirari, Sultanpur Majra, Nangloi Jat, Mangolpuri and Rohini. Despite a large number of students passing out from schools every year, these areas boast of having just three colleges of the Delhi University – Swami Shraddhanand College (co-ed) in Alipur, Aditi College (for girls) in Bawana and Delhi College of Engineering (DCE). Students have to travel to the North Campus or opt for Correspondence even if they get a high percentage.
'There are a limited number of seats in Shraddhanand College. Being a girl, I cannot travel 20 km everyday when there is only one mode of transport, i.e., the bus, here. I had to opt for a correspondence course despite scoring 84 per cent in Class XII,' said Monika Bhardwaj, a student from Narela.
