Mumbai : More than a year after Govandi residents celebrated the launch of their first public CBSE school, nearly 600 students are still unable to enter its brand-new building — all because a proper access road was never built.
In April 2024, Mumbai Public School CBSE – Natwar Parekh Compound opened admissions to overwhelming demand, enrolling over 400 students and leaving nearly 700 on a waiting list. Some even left private schools for the opportunity. The school was promised a new building near Natwarlal Parekh Compound, but while construction finished this year, the facility remains locked for the 2025–26 academic session.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which oversaw construction, built the structure but left out the approach road. Today, the main gate is blocked by heaps of garbage and a pothole-filled dirt track, while a smaller back gate near MHADA housing is sealed shut. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has withheld clearance, citing the need for at least a 9-meter-wide road for fire trucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles. Parents have also flagged the compound’s low boundary walls bordering a drain and nearby buildings.
Until the road is built, all students and staff remain crammed inside Shivajinagar BMC School Group I, where they share seven Urdu-medium classrooms on a shift basis. Teachers conduct lessons in corridors and makeshift spaces, while 30 freshly built classrooms in the new building sit empty.
Despite the space crunch, the school has maintained a 100% pass rate and produced young authors and Olympiad medalists. Parents continue to send their children, praising the teaching staff’s dedication, but frustration is mounting. “Month after month, we wait for the new building, yet a basic road is keeping our children from better facilities,” said PTA head Badshah Shaikh.
Repeated appeals to MMRDA and local authorities have gone unanswered, leaving the state-of-the-art facility surrounded by debris and without vehicle access. MMRDA did not respond to requests for comment on the pending roadwork.
