School education: Delhi
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
The best type of schools
2017: Govt schools take 9% lead over private in CBSE
Krittika Sharma, Govt schools take 9% lead over pvt , May 29 2017: The Times of India
Marginal Dip But Better Than CBSE Average
In 2017, the government schools of Delhi -which have undergone a makeover -have increased their performance gap over the private schools to 9% from only 2% last year in pass percentage, a remarkable achievement. This happened despite the government being apprehensive of a dip in performance because of a crackdown on cheating.
“We had deputed SDMs and other district officials to keep a close watch on examination centres and ensure that cheating doesn't take place. We knew there were several windows at exam centres where cheating was being enabled and we wanted to make sure that it did not happen under our watch,“ said education minister Manish Sisodia The pass percentage of government schools this year is 88.27%, marginally less than last year's 88.91%. However, this is 6% above the CBSE average of 82.29%. The star performers from these schools are all in the range of late 90s, giving tough competition to students from private schools.
Vikas Upadhyay , a student of Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, Yamuna Vihar, has topped among government schools with 97%. He was a student of Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya No. 2 till Class X but shifted to the RPVV for better facilities. “The Sarvodaya school did not have good labs. I wanted to pursue a career in medical and needed my base to be strong,“ he told TOI.
The private schools of Delhi have secured an average of 79.27%. Some schools like Indian School, Amity International, Mount Abu Public School, Ahlcon International School, etc did exceptionally well.
Indian School, for examp le, secured a school average of 90% with 12 students scoring 100 marks in their subjects. A total of 163 students appeared from Mount Abu Public School, of which 22 secured over 90% aggregate. Similarly , Ahlcon International has seven students above 95% and 40 above 90%.
Among the Amity International schools in Mayur Vihar, Saket and Pushp Vihar, 639 students appeared for the exam and 166 have scored above 90% with 62 students above 95%.
2018, ‘19/ Co-ed schools get best results
August 9, 2019: The Times of India
From: August 9, 2019: The Times of India
Private schools improve student count, corpns lag
New Delhi:
In the last eight years, 645 private schools were opened in the city while 86 municipal schools were shut, leading to an increase of 4.8 lakh students in the private sector and a decrease of 2.5 lakh in municipal schools.
During the same period — 2011-12 to 2018-19 — 69 schools were started under the directorate of education, but both government and aided institutes in this category didn’t see much change in the enrolment count, reveals the data released by Delhi government. The private schools saw the maximum growth between 2011-12 and 2014-15. While in 2011-12, their count was 2,026, it reached 2,656 in 2014-15. As the number of schools under the municipal corporations — both government and aided — decreased, the enrolment in Delhi government schools also saw a dip. The municipal schools act as feeder institutes for the government schools with students moving to them in Class VI from the MCD schools.
The enrolment in the Delhi government schools was 16.5 lakh in 2011-12. The number increased to 17.1 lakh in 2014-15 but dropped to 16.5 lakh in 2018-19, the period during which the enrollment fell in the corporation schools.
Meanwhile, the government has highlighted its plan to increase the number of co-ed schools as the classes X and XII results of the existing co-ed institutes have been better than the rest. Even in the compartment exams, co-ed schools have a better report card.
Unlike previous years, girls (83.9%) performed better than boys (78.8%) in mathematics in the Class X exams this year. While more than 96% students secured pass marks in all other subjects, the overall success rate was 73.6% in mathematics and 86.9% in science. In both subjects, there is a net vacancy of 709 and 726, respectively, which is about 12% of the sanctioned posts.
Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board has sent only 653 and 416 dossiers for the approved candidates in these two subjects while the actual requirement is for 1,903 and 2,104 teachers at different levels.
Over the years, the infrastructure in government schools has improved from 24,000 rooms in 2015 to the current 32,000. By the end of November, the count will reach 45,118.
Classroom: student ratio
Government schools 2023
Shradha Chettri, Oct 5, 2023: The Times of India
From: Shradha Chettri, Oct 5, 2023: The Times of India
NEW DELHI: The government schools in northeast Delhi are grossly overcrowded, with the student-classroom ratio much higher than the norm. In Government Co-ed Middle School in Johripur, each classroom has an average of 190 students. In the other two schools at Shabapur, the ratio is 102:1 and 109:1. The lowest average for a classroom in the area is 56.
These details were submitted to Delhi High Court by the Directorate of Education after Social Jurist, an NGO working with children's education, filed a petition stating that students in northeast Delhi were being provided just two hours of education daily due to space constraints.
TOI had highlighted this problem on April 19. Northeast Delhi, despite being densely populated, has fewer government schools than in other districts.The student-classroom ratio is the average number of pupils per classroom in a school in a year. The ideal norm under the Right to Education Act is 30:1 for primary school and 35:1 for upper primary institutions.
The affidavit filed in the court says, "Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Khajoori Khas, and Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Khajoori Khas, both running in the same building have a strength of 5,834 and 5,560, respectively. Out of the above, the higher strength of students has been chosen to calculate the student-classroom ratio and the same pattern was followed for other schools.”
The 14 schools in the district have an enrolment of 31,251. There are 374 classrooms for them, translating into a student-classroom ratio of 83.5:1. There also are 88 'other' rooms, these being libraries, computer rooms, staff rooms, laboratories, washrooms, storerooms and offices.
The education department claimed that the construction of classrooms and new buildings were in process. At Sri Ram Colony, a new building with 108 rooms has been under construction since January 14, 2021. A new building to accommodate more students at GGSS, Mustafabad, where the ratio is 124:1 is being built since 2021.
At Shiv Vihar, Johripur, which is in the possession of the Directorate of Education, three school buildings are proposed to be constructed with 300 rooms. Similarly, Government Co-Ed Middle School in Johripur and SV at Badarpur Khadar have been bifurcated from the current academic session. The affidavit explained, "In order to reduce the ratio, the students of the higher classes not below Class IX will be shifted to the above schools after the completion of school building constructions that have approximately 458 rooms. Following this, the ratio will be 37.6 ensuring compliance of RTE norms.”
However, petitioner Social Jurist felt immediate relief should be provided. Advocate Ashok Agarwal said, "DoE should arrange buses to transport students of classes IX-XII to other government schools where classrooms are available.”
Dropouts
2012-17
As Corporation Schools Cut Corners, Education Suffers Due To Poor Infra
Nursery admis sions bring out the paradox in Delhi's primary education: too many kids vying for limited seats in the few “good“ primary schools and too few interested in the 1,662 primary schools that the municipal corporations run. Last year alone, over 35,000 kids dropped out of the corporation schools to take the figure in the past five years to a staggering 1.38 lakh. Clearly , even for the parents that bring their children to these school, mostly domestic helps and menial workers, quality still matters -and that is what they are not reassured of in the institutions run by the civic bodies.
The first response of the corporations is to argue that the dropout rate is due to the labour families migrating elsewhere for jobs. This argument, however, only damns the corporations because under the Right to Education Act, it is the responsibility of local bodies to map their respective areas and ensure the kids get free and compulsory education.Civic bodies do carry out a survey annually to identify kids “left out of the system“, but this job is left to the already overburdened teachers, who, in any case, do not have the expertise for the complex assignment.
The corporations also handily use the government-mandated quota in private school for the economically weaker sections, called EWS, to explain the reluctance of parents to enrol their children in their schools. “Parents prefer to get the children admitted to private school under the 25% EWS quota so they can study up to Class XII,“ said one corporation official. Since the last municipal polls in 2012, SDMC has shut down seven schools. EDMC has closed down 22, while the north corporation, since 2105, has terminated a huge 48 schools. The civic bodies pleaded that the low number of students warranted the closure of these schools.
Senior officials of the education department of South Delhi Municipal Corporation did admit to the fall in quality of education and enrolment.“However, we have done a lot during in the past two years, especially in terms of infrastructure,“ said one official.“NGOs have been roped in to improve quality . They have set up 25 schools as resource centres and these will adopt 10 other schools each.“ Yet in the same period, over 27,000 kids dropped out of SDMC schools.
Infrastructure improvement has been slow and painful. Mukesh Yadav, SDMC spokesperson, claimed that 89% of its schools now had pucca structures. But 65 schools in south Delhi and 140 in the east don't even have water connections. No wonder, Mukesh Goyal, leader of the Opposition in the north corporation, protested, “In 2015-16 and 2016-17, Rs 20.35 crore was allocated for the purchase of desks, but no money was spent for the purpose in both the years.“
In the north corporation, Mamata Nagpal, chairman of the education committee, said staff shortage was a prime problem. At one point, half the schools there did not have prin cipals. Despite some effort, over 100 still don't have heads.Absolving the civic body of any responsibility , she argued, “We are ready to fill these vacancies too, but Delhi government and Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board need to bring in more manpower.“
Posts of clerical staff, guards and sweepers too are vacant. And, added a north corporation official, “We have a shortage of administrative officers too. Entire north Delhi currently has just around three school inspectors. Directors, whose job it is to formulate policy, keep getting transferred every two months due to political interference.“
An EDMC official also alleged that political recommendations keep piling up in the corporation schools through the year, while in government schools, transfers are effected only in the two months when institutional activity is at a minimum. Such transfers have created teacher numbers disproportionate to students in many schools.
Money , of course, is a big reason why corners are cut. For instance, in the financially stressed east corporation, allocation for education has dropped by Rs 20 crore since 2012.And as usual, the municipal bodies blame the state government for their dismal performance. “We are supposed to get 100% grant-in-aid for schools, but the government, including the earlier Congress one, has reduced the figure to just 58%,“ an official claimed.
2017-18: Govt schools ‘left out’ 66% of failed students
Shradha Chettri, February 1, 2019: The Times of India
From: Shradha Chettri, February 1, 2019: The Times of India
Sixty-six per cent of students in classes IX to XII of Delhi government schools who failed in 2017-18 have now gone out of the formal schooling system. Out of a total of 1,55,436 students who failed, only 52,582 were readmitted in the same class, official documents reveal.
Most of these students had failed in classes X and XII. In class X, 42,503 students could not clear the examination in 2017-18, out of which only 3,812 were readmitted. So, 91% of the students probably went out of the schooling system. In class XII, out of 10,566 students who failed, only 943 were readmitted, indicating that another 91% may have dropped out of the school system.
Students who fail not denied re-entry: DoE
Similarly in class IX, out of a total of 73,561 students who failed, 35,534 were readmitted and in Class XI, out of 28,806 who failed, 12,293 were readmitted.
Last year, Justice for All, an NGO working in the right to education space, had filed a petition after class X students, who had failed, were being denied readmission in the schools. The Delhi high court had in August 2018 directed Delhi government to re-admit these students.
“Despite the high court order, a large number of students failed to get admission and now they are out of the school system. It is a very easy process, the school just has to put the names of these students in the register. But the government has complicated the system. This is because they want to push these students out of the school so that they can show better results,” said lawyer Ashok Agarwal of Justice for All.
The readmission data is in an affidavit submitted in the Delhi high court by the Directorate of Education (DoE).
According to the Delhi school education rules, if a student who has failed approaches the same school for readmission, the student has to be re-admitted and admission cannot be denied.
Sanjay Goel, director at the Directorate of Education, said students who have failed and want to join back in school are not denied admission.
“For class IX, those who fail and want to save a year, we give them an option to go to the National Institute of Open Schooling or continue in class IX at the school. Those who fail more than twice have to obligatorily join the NIOS system. But for other classes, whichever child comes back, he/she is readmitted in the same class,” said Goel.
However, educationists say the percentage of failed students being readmitted is extremely low and shows that a number of students are being pushed out of school system.
“What happened to the rest who failed and were not readmitted? It’s a matter of concern that such small number of students are being taken back. It seems this is because the schools want to show good results in the boards. Now, the state government is sending students to NIOS. Earlier, they had sent a large chunk to the CBSE’s correspondence section. But there, the poor performance was showing in the board results. By sending these students to NIOS, they become invisible,” said Anita Rampal, professor of elementary and social education at Delhi University.
2020- 22
From: Shradha Chettri, January 6, 2023: The Times of India
See graphic:
Out of school children in Delhi, 2020- 22
2018-2022: dropouts after class IX in government schools
Shradha Chettri, January 31, 2023: The Times of India
From: Shradha Chettri, January 31, 2023: The Times of India
New Delhi : A significantly high number of students who passed their class IX exams in Delhi government schools in the last four academic years did not enrol for the class X batch, an RTI reply from the Directorate of Education (DoE) has revealed.
The RTI was filed by TOI seeking data for the last few years. The reasons for the students dropping out are unclear as of now. There was no immediate reaction from the Delhi government on the matter, but an official said that the figures are being analysed.
In 2018-19, of the 2,67,617 students enrolled in class IX, 76,523 failed. When the same batch moved to class X, only 153,938 remained, as more than 37,000 students dropped out.
In the following years, while the number of studentsdropping out reduced, the trend continued. For instance, in the academic year 2019-20, a total of 2,79,337 students were enrolled in class IX and 42,475 of them failed the yearly exam. But as the batch moved to class X, the enrolment stood at 2,30,692, leaving a gap of 6,170 students.
In the year 2020-21, there were 2,45,076 students enrolled in class IX, and 31,517 ofthem failed. The enrolment in class X stood at 2,06,545, i. e. , a difference of 7,041 students. The next year, the trend was similar. Of the 2,48,031 students who appeared for class IX exams, 28,531 failed, but the enrolment for class X was down to 2,14,197. In other words, 5,303 students were out of school records.
Some government school principals TOIspoke to said they were unaware of any such trend.
“I would understand about failed students moving outof the system, but why would students who have passed not join class X? Even if it happens, the numbers shouldn’t be so high,” a principal said, not wishing to be named.
As per the government scheme, only students who have failed in classes IX and X join the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and clear the board. In the year 2018-2019, out of the 76,523 students who failed, 18,624 were part of NIOS. Similarly, in 2019-2020, out of the 42,475 students who failed, 15,061 were enrolled in NIOS.
While the dropout data is concerning, there is notable achievement over the years too —the number of students failing in class IX has seen a drop.
While 76,523 students had failed in 2019-20, the number fell to 42,475 in 2020-21. In the year 2021-22, a total of 31,517 students had failed, which dropped to 28,531 in 2021-22.
Dropout rate of minority community students
2020 – 22
February 8, 2024: The Times of India
New Delhi : Govt informed RS that the dropout rate among minority community students at the secondary level (Class X) had shot up to 24.4% in 2021-22 from 14.5% in 2020-21 as per United District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data.
The reasons for dropout were cited to be financial constraints and being engaged in domestic or economic activities, minority affairs minister Smriti Irani said in response to a written question from Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya of CPM. UDISE+ maintains the dropout rate by level of education and not classwise. The dropout rate for higher secondary level is not calculated.
Besides the rise in dropout rate by around 10% between 2020-21 and 2021-22, there were wide variations in the statewide data. For instance, the dropout rate among minorities was 6.3% in Gujarat in 2020-21 and rose to 44% in 2021-22 and in Chhattisgarh, it rose from 16.5% to 54.2%. Puducherry and Chandigarh had no dropouts in 2020-21 but the rate stood at 32.5% and 17% respectively the next year. In Uttarakhand, the dropout rate went from 2.3% in 2020-21 to 31.6% in 2021-22. In Arunachal Pradesh, it rose from 7% in 2020-21 to 38.1% the next year. In UP, it rose from 14% to nearly 22% and in Maharashtra, it went up from 10.8%to 33%.
While Ladakh had no dropouts in both years, states like Delhi, Tripura and Telangana witnessedadecline.
TNN
Enrolment statistics
Private vs government; male: female
2019-20
Shradha Chettri, July 5, 2021: The Times of India
[[File: Delhi 2019-20- Enrolment in Private vs government schools
Male: female ratio.jpg| Delhi 2019-20: Enrolment in Private vs government schools
Male: female ratio
From: Shradha Chettri, July 5, 2021: The Times of India|frame|500px]]
In pre-primary and primary classes, more students are enrolled in private schools in Delhi, according to Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2019-20. However, while transitioning to upper primary (classes VI-VIII), secondary and higher secondary, the enrolment in government schools is much higher.
In terms of gender-wise distribution, the preferred option was sending girls to government schools and boys to private schools irrespective of the class. In pre-primary, 92,660 more students were enrolled in private schools. However, in the primary section (classes IV), there were 42,995 more students in private schools. Educators said the number of students in the pre-primary section was more in private schools because most government schools began from Class I. UDISE+ showed that when students were admitted in Class I, 1,52,059 were from the same school, 1,48,831 from another school, and 30,993 from anganwadi centres.
Interestingly, Delhi was one of the few states where enrolment in pre-primary classes was high. For a large state like Uttar Pradesh, only 8,840 students were enrolled in the pre-primary section, which is said to be important for imparting early childhood education, as enlisted by National Education Policy 2020.
When students transitioned from primary (classes IV) to upper primary (classes VI -VIII) and higher classes, the enrolment in government school surpassed that of private institutions. In classes IX-X, 2,57,434 more students were studying in government schools. In classes XI-XII, the gap narrowed with 1,26,786 more students in government schools.
Explaining the phenomenon, AK Jha, principal of Government Co-ed Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Sector 8 Rohini, said, “In the primary section, parents admit children in small private schools as fees are lower. They think that putting children in private schools will strengthen their foundation. But as the children move forward, the fees increase and parents are not able to afford it. So, they move them to government schools for free education.”
The different between the number of girls compared with boys in private schools was found to be more in higher classes. In classes XI-XII, 32,441 more boys were found studying in private schools. Similarly, in classes IX-X, 49,640 more boys were enrolled in private schools.
Jha said, “The Indian mentality give a preference to boys. If a couple has two children, they will send the boy to a private school and the girl to a government school. For instance, government schools in the morning shift meant for girls may have around 3,000 students. In the evening shift meant for boys, the enrolment would be around 1,500.”
Fees
HC limits Delhi govt’s interference in private school fees/ 2019
Profit yes but no profiteering. Delhi high court’s verdict on Friday has a central message not just for the schools but also Directorate of Education (DoE).
Private unaided schools have welcomed the judgment and indicated they will start charging the increased fee for 2018-19 academic year.
Reining in the power of DoE to interfere on fee hike by private unaided schools, Justice C Hari Shankar was categorical that “the right to establish and administer unaided educational institutions is essentially absolute, and therewith, bureaucratic and governmental interference has to be necessarily minimal. Among the facets of this right is the right to set up a fee structure, which includes determination of the quantum of fee to be charged by it.”
HC’s ruling came on a plea filed by an association of almost 450 unaided recognised private schools in the capital seeking the right to decide fee to be charged. The private schools association, represented by advocate Kamal Gupta had challenged DoE’s denial of fee hike nod, and argued it would lead to a delay in implementation of recommendations, apart from exodus of teachers from schools that have been barred for the time being from hiking their staff pay.
Justice Harishankar also underlined that when it came to fixing school fee, both private schools and minority institutions enjoy similar autonomy and DoE can’t interfere.
“In both cases, the schools are entitled to complete autonomy in the matter of fixation of their fees and management of their accounts, subject only to the condition that they do not indulge in profiteering, and do not charge capitation fee, thereby ‘commercialising’ education. There is no requirement for the school to take ‘prior approval’ of the DoE, before enhancing its fees. The only responsibility, on the school, is to submit its statement of fee.”
Analysing a host of Supreme Court rulings on the matter of autonomy of schools, HC made a distinction between institutes trying to make profit from those indulging in profiteering.
“Education is classically regarded as “charitable”, and not geared at earning profit. Money, however, does not grow on trees, and, while educational institutions are entitled to earn profit, in order to survive, and to augment their resources and aim at higher standards, they cannot be vehicles geared at earning profits,” the court noted.
It also stressed that in the matter of charging of fees and its quantum, “all decisions, at least of the Supreme Court, have been uniform in asserting that maximum autonomy to unaided educational institutions, whether minority or nonminority, was guaranteed by the Constitution. The only curbs, thereon, being in relation to commercialisation of education, i.e., profiteering and charging of capitation fee. So long as the fees charged by the concerned educational institution(s) did not amount to ‘commercialisation of education’, thus understood, the Constitution clearly advocates a ‘hands off ’ approach by the government.”
In the same verdict, the court also restored recognition of Mount Carmel school which had come to court against DoE’s penalty, slapped for hiking fee without its nod.
“Withdrawal of recognition of a running school is an extreme step. It throws, into complete jeopardy, not only the school but, more importantly, the teachers, the staff and the students in the school. The damage caused is often as immeasurable as it is irremediable,” the court observed, while quashing the DoE order.
Through advocate Romy Chacko, the school had argued there was no need of prior approval from DoE to hike fee.
General guidelines
Commercial activities (sale of books, uniforms) banned
HC: Enforce ban on sale of books, uniforms on campus, May 3, 2017: The Times of India
Disposes Of PIL Highlighting Commercial Activities In Schools
The Delhi high court directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to strictly enforce its latest rule prohibiting schools affiliated to it from commercial activity , including sale of books or uniforms on the campus.
A bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra disposed of a PIL raising the issue after taking note of a recent circular brought out by CBSE asking schools not to indulge in commercial activity wit hin campus. “We are disposing of the writ petition with direction to the CBSE to ensure that its circular is strictly implemented by the institutions,“ the bench said after the board apprised it of the steps taken by it.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by social worker Sunil Pokhriyal seeking direction to restrain the schools from using their buildings to run commercial activities such as selling books and uniforms. Despite opposition from CBSE, the court had entertained the PIL saying the issue highlighted “is in public interest, especially for school-going children and their parents.“
On April 19, the board had issued a circular following complaints from parents and stakeholders that schools are indulging in commercial activities by way of selling books and uniforms from school premises or through selected vendors. The petition, filed on March 3, had urged the court to enforce CBSE's first circular on the issue -brought out on February 21, 2011 -which warned schools across India not to use their premises for any commercial activity like sale of books, uniforms or stationery on their campuses.
The petitioner submitted that the board has given parents a free hand to purchase these items from the open market at a competitive price, but the public schools force them to purchase it from shops inside schools. It alleged that these shops are being run by people known to the school management and the institutions make “willful gain“ from these businesses. “ A pair of shoes, which is available for around Rs 500 in the market, costs Rs 1,200-1,500 at a school's store,“ the plea added.
2017: Upper age limit for entry-level classes in private schools
Krittika Sharma, Upper age limits for entry-level classes, December 6, 2017: The Times of India
The nursery guidelines this year are going to be slightly tweaked. There will be an upper age limit for entry-level classes in private schools.
That means a child aged between three and four years would be eligible for nursery, between four and five years for KG, and between five and six years for Class I.
In December 2015, the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education had imposed an upper age limit on the recommendations of an expert committee. The high court had stayed it in February last year. NGO Social Jurist had then filed an appeal in the matter, following which an HC bench had upheld the upper age limit.
The NGO’s Khagesh Jha said the October 30 decision was made, as mentioned in the order, by relying on the judgment of the expert committee that had fixed the 2015 guidelines.
“But this expert committee is also expert in a certain class of people. They have little idea about what happens in the other sections of the society where parents don’t send their children to school until they are as old as five,” he said, He was talking about many EWS families where children start their education late.
But EWS/DG children have been given a two-year breather under the October 30 order—between three and five years for nursery, between four and six years for KG, and between five and seven years for Class I, wherever these classes are at the entry level.
Calling this upper age limit “absolutely ridiculous”, Ashok Agarwal, lawyer and president of All India Parents’ Association, questioned why there was a discrimination between the general category students and EWS ones.
“Students admitted under the EWS category have a two-year relaxation, but the those admitted under general category have just one year. Why make this discrimination? A child is a child, irrespective,” he said.
According to principals, this age gap also influences a child’s abilities in a class. Ashok Pandey, principal of Ahlcon International School, said even children with an age gap of two years in the same class have different physical and cognitive abilities.
“Imagine an 18-year-old sitting in Class 11 or 12. The difference between the older kid and his peers is vast. Plus, they lose out when sitting for competitive exams that have age limits,” said Pandey.
He said it is but logical for a child of a certain age to be in a certain class. “The age for Class 1 is fixed at five years, which means he/she must be in nursery by 3+ years and preparatory by 4+ years. Logically, there is no aberration in the set age limits,” Pandey said.
Even for children in nursery class, an age gap can make a difference in how fast they grasp, according to Tania Joshi of Indian School. “In nursery, we teach children how to build blocks or catch a ball. But a five-year-old child learns the same thing much faster because motor skills are better developed. They come at an advantage because of their age, but what is the fault of the younger child to be left behind?” said Joshi.
Jha plans to take the matter forward, “but without deterring the current cycle of admission”.
“We want to go to Supreme Court eventually on the issue, but no timeline has been set on it till now. We have been deliberately delaying any action on this to keep a check on the panic such matters can create among parents,” he said.
Girl students
40% in govt schools stay home during periods/ 2016
From: DurgeshNandan Jha, Cycle of bad hygiene: Why 40% of girls in govt schools stay home during periods, September 19, 2018: The Times of India
In a city like Delhi, which claims to have the best infrastructure in the education sector in the country, a survey has revealed that 40% of the girls stay away from school during menstruation for reasons such as unavailability of private place to manage periods, lack of running water supply, absence of disposal system for pads/clothes and lack of bathroom for girls.
The survey, conducted in 2016 by Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (HIMSAR), is based on the responses of 600 girls studying at six randomly selected government schools in southeast Delhi and its findings have been published in the latest issue of Journal of Family and Community Medicine (JFCM).
Poor menstrual hygiene is often associated with serious illnesses, including urinary tract infections. The study shows that out of the six schools, one school had no separate toilet for girls, and, at 65%, it recorded the highest percentage of absenteeism during menstruation. Another school, which had only a few separate toilets, had 51% absenteeism among the girls. In the remaining four schools, where there were separate toilets for girls, the count was 40%, 31%, 26% and 24%.
Many girls in all six schools, however, complained that the toilets did not have regular water supply, forcing them to stay at home during menstruation.
During focus group discussions, held by the researchers to understand the issue better, the girls indicated that they felt awkward to use toilet facilities without good-quality sanitary supplies during these days. The girls identified lack of soap, clean toilets, clean water, privacy and sanitary supplies as the main challenges at school, states the study. One of the students said, “In school, there is nothing i.e, there is no proper toilet, no water to drink and wash, no soap, no facility to dispose of the soiled sanitary towels and no private area for girls to change their underwear or sanitary napkins and manage their hygiene.”
Aditi Vashisht, the study’s lead author who works at HIMSAR, told TOI there was an urgent need to improve the basic facilities to cut down absenteeism. “In our study, we found many girls were missing tests during menstruation, which affected their academic performance,” she said.
Maintaining a code of silence on matters related to menstruation, the authors found, was the main challenge the girls faced since they felt rather awkward about asking teachers or friends for assistance, especially when there were boys around.
Often, the girls would tell their friends to inform the teacher, ‘my friend is sick’, and then they would either be sent home or would remain and sit quietly in class until everyone had left, often enduring painful menstruation cramps, the girls told researchers during discussions.
Many girls also said they weren’t allowed by parents to go to school during menstruation, citing traditions. “Many schools did not have regular counselling sessions for girls on menstruation and other health issues. This has to change,” said Dr Rambha Pathak, head of the community medicine department at HIMSAR and a coauthor of the study.
“Those belonging to lower strata of the society aren’t very confident talking to parents about such issues but teachers can guide them and help redress the concerns with relation to menstruation,” Pathak pointed out.
Municipal/ Government schools
2011-17: Dropout rate, learning outcomes
85,000 students dropped out in 2016-17, December 15, 2017: The Times of India
From: 85,000 students dropped out in 2016-17, December 15, 2017: The Times of India
From: 85,000 students dropped out in 2016-17, December 15, 2017: The Times of India
From: 85,000 students dropped out in 2016-17, December 15, 2017: The Times of India
From: 85,000 students dropped out in 2016-17, December 15, 2017: The Times of India
From: 85,000 students dropped out in 2016-17, December 15, 2017: The Times of India
_in_actual_rupees,_NDMC,_EDMC,_SDMC,_state_schools-_2016-17_and_2017-18.jpg)
From: 85,000 students dropped out in 2016-17, December 15, 2017: The Times of India
See graphics:
1. Statistics-enrolments in state government schools, mcd schools, 2013-14 to 2016-17
2. Statistics-dropouts, SDMC, NDMC and state government schools, 2016-17
3. Statistics-Learning outcomes and dropouts of government schools, 2013-14 and 2016-17
4. How serious are our elected representatives regarding education, April 2015 to March 2016
5. Statistics-quality, comparative pass percentage in X and XII board examinations, 2011-17
6. Statistics-Allocation and expenditure, per capita cost (per student) in actual rupees, NDMC, EDMC, SDMC, state schools- 2016-17 and 2017-18
Praja Report On State Of Govt, Municipal Schools Finds Enrolment Declined 7% In 2016-17
Over 85,000 students from municipal and government institutions dropped out of the school system in the 2016-17 academic session. This and other revelations were contained in NGO Praja Foundation’s annual report on the state of education in the capital. Citing data collected through Right to Information applications, the report disclosed a 7% fall in enrolment in municipal and state government schools since last year and a 30% drop in the entry-level Class I since 2010-11.
Given the numbers, Praja questioned the concern of elected representatives about education because 25 MLAs and 147 councillors did not raise a single issue on the subject in their respective legislative bodies throughout the year.
The study, which has been divided into seven parts dealing with enrolment, dropout, quality of education (based on Class X and XII board exam pass percentage), learning outcomes, expenditure, household survey and deliberations, also pointed out that 44% of Class IX students in 2013-14 didn’t reach Class XII in 2016-17, while 43% of the Class IX students of the 2015-16 batch didn’t graduate to Class X in 2016-17.
Municipal schools appeared to show a continuous decline in enrolment in the past three years, though the schools run by Delhi government bucked the trend with a 1% point increase. The decline reflected the findings of the household survey, where 58% of the parents sending their kids to corporation schools expressed unhappiness about the quality of education and 47% of parents of government school students similarly being unsatisfied with the quality of education.
Anjan Ghosh, senior vicepresident of Hansa Research, to whom Praja Foundation had commissioned the household survey, said, “An alarmingly high percentage (85%) of students taking private tuitions belong to municipal schools and 74% to state government schools. This could be in correlation with the percentage of parents (29%) not being happy with their children’s school as the primary factor.”
In all 85,412 students from the municipal and government schools were reported to have left school in 2016-17. Anjali Srivastava, assistant programme manager, Praja, said, “In the pre-Right to Education days if a student stopped coming to schools, the name was struck off the register. However, now a student has to get a transfer certificate in order to get admission elsewhere. The 85,000 dropouts are cases where the students have gone missing from the schools without either having taken transfer certificates. They are still marked ‘absent’ in the school records as their names cannot be struck off the rolls under the provisions of the RTE Act.”
The entry-level enrolment doesn’t present a rosy picture either, with the numbers dipping from 1,92,820 in 2010-11 to 1,35,491in 2016-17. While conjecturing that the dearth of resources with the municipal corporations could be to blame, Nitai Mehta, founder of Praja Foundation, said: “In terms of the infrastructure, teacher quality and budget allocation, there seems to be no constraint. The corporations fare well on the student:teacher ratio, the quality of teacher is above average and the budget estimate of the state government is Rs 49,740 per child.”
Milind Mhaske, project director, Praja, said, “The government gives out data that makes it look good, but when you dig deeper, you can detect major issues in the education department. Unless the government acknowledges these issues, it will be difficult to bring about any required change or improvement in the education department. These issues need to be addressed and acted upon soon. The future of the children in Delhi is at stake.”
2014-19: the state of publicly funded schools
From: Dec 5, 2019: The Times of India
Around 40% of Delhi government school students who failed Class IX in 2017-18 never got to Class X the following year. Of the 1,16,149 students who were unable to pass Class IX, under 4,100 enrolled in the patrachar (correspondence) system in 2018-19. Small as this percentage is, the performance of students in the correspondence course has improved over the past five years, according to a report released by an NGO on Wednesday.
The correspondence mode enables failures at the pre-board level to work towards the Class X and Class XII board exams. But the number of enrolment isn’t high, with just under 3.5% of 1.16 lakh Class IX failures and around 17% of 41,477 Class XI failures enrolling for the mode.
The report released by Praja Foundation, titled the “State of public school education in Delhi”, showed a smaller 24% figure for failures in Class XI in 2017-18 reaching Class XII in 2018-19. But overall, the figures indicate that students drop out at crucial points in the schooling process. The dropout rate is highest in schools run by the municipal corporations, there being a 19% drop in enrolment between 2014-15 and 2018-19.
“After the Class XII board examinations in March 2019, the state government schools reported a pass percentage of 94.2%. While there is much to rejoice about that, it is also important to look the other way. We have to take into account that students who studied till Class XII in state run schools were less than half, i.e. 45% of the total student strength compared to Class IX,” the report stated.
It carried on, “This shows poor retention in state schools; 40% students didn’t go to Class X from Class IX in state government schools and 32% in Kendriya Vidyalayas. This probably indicates the high figure of students failing in Class IX and unable to move to Class X in government schools.”
The report said that it was necessary to compare the number of students falling out of formal school with enrolment in patrachar schools to see whether the latter was proving successful in acting as an effective medium of correspondence education assisting failures to prepare for the next level of board exams.
The good news is that since 2014-15, the pass percentage of the patrachar students in Class X has risen from 2% at the time to 32% in 2018-19. In Class XII, the pass percentage improved from 22% in 2014-15 to 53% in 2018-19.
Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and the Directorate of Education did not respond to TOI’s request for their comments on Praja’s report.
2016: Poor standards
Subodh Varma, How municipal schools are failing city's children, April 22, 2017: The Times of India
The three municipal corporations of Delhi have the responsibility of educating nearly 8.2 lakh children in the primary section, from Class I to V . Given the ever increasing fees in private schools, the municipal schools have a crucial significance. But a report, based on data collected by Praja Foundation through RTI applications, found the enrollment has dropped 27% in the past five years, the dropout rate is at a high 12%, and the pupil-teacher ratio is much higher than the prescribed 1 teacher per 40 students. Supportive programmes like mid-day meals are deficient, school libraries are poor, sports facilities are lacking and a majori ty of students need to supplement school lessons with private tuition.
The report released in December 2016 said the East Delhi Municipal Corporation appeared to be the worst affected, with dropout rates touching 18%, he pupil teacher ratio at 42:1, utilisation of allocated funds under various heads very low, and nil expenditure on mid-day meals and libraries in 2015-16. EDMC had the lowest per student spend among all three corporations.
The south corporation recorded the lowest dropout figures and a better pupil-teacher ratio, but its utilization of Plan allocations was just 67%, even if its spending under non-Plan heads was much higher.
Clearly , a combination of factors -finances, utilization planning (or academic expertise) and political leadership --play a role in this dismal trend. One worrying fallout of this drop in municipal education quality is that families are opting out of the affordable municipal schools and entering the costlier private-education system. Many families are likely to pull out their children at some stage of schooling, and perhaps the axe will fall on the girl child.
Electioneering for the municipal corporations has come to a close. Now the fate of schoolchildren is in the hands of an electorate that has been given wild promises on education by the three main political contenders.
Quality of teaching; private tuitions
As per data on the state of education in Delhi released by Praja Foundation, a majority of students from both corporation and government schools have to rely on tuitions, indicating dissatisfaction among parents of the quality of education being provided in these schools. Other pain points for parents have also been listed in Praja’s report based on a household survey.
The report showed that 61% of the parents with children studying in Delhi government schools and 63% of those with kids in the municipal corporation schools availed of extra tuition for their wards. The figures showed that 74% of government school students and 85% of corporation school students went for extra classes conducted largely by private tutors. However, the quality of education in “other” schools — government- and corporation-aided institutions, Kendriya Vidyalayas and private schools — wasn’t any more satisfactory for parents. According to the survey, 71% parents with children in “other” schools also enrolled their children in private tuition classes.
Interestingly, an appreciable number of government students go to their own school teachers for tuition classes, ironically signifying that parents may not necessarily be dissatisfied with the school teachers. Such an arrangement with school teachers existed for 18% for government school students and 19% for students of “other” schools.
Overall, 76% of the parents of most government school students seemed “happy” with the institutions. Likewise, around 71% of the respondents in the survey expressed happiness with the corporation schools.
Yet, the remaining lot of disgruntled parents cited facilities, teachers, scope and distance from home as reasons for dissatisfaction. The survey said that 55% of government school parents were unhappy with the facilities in the institutions compared with 25% dissatisfied corporation school parents. While 47% government school parents and 31% corporation school parents thought the future of their children were limited, 30% of the former and 33% of the latter complained about the capability of teachers.
The survey, however, had a baffling entry when it mentioned that “school fees” was a big reason for unhappiness among parents who send their children to corporation and government schools. Both categories of schools, in fact, provide free education. “The team that conducted the survey said the money being spent on school projects etc has been termed as school fees in the report,” explained Anjali Srivastava, assistant programme manager, Praja Foundation.
Decline in admissions
2016-19
Vibha Sharma, April 4, 2019: The Times of India
From: Vibha Sharma, April 4, 2019: The Times of India
Admissions To Municipal Primary Schools Decline For Third Straight Year
The number of students taking admission in municipal primary schools has shown a decline even this year. East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) saw the biggest drop in the last three years with 44,000 fewer students enrolling in its schools this year.
The data accessed by TOI shows that in 2016-17 session, 8.54 lakh students enrolled in primary, nursery and aided municipal schools. The number was 8.07 lakh in 2017-18, which declined to 7.52 lakh in 2018-19. In 2016, EDMC had 2.3 lakh students, which reduced to 2.15 lakh in 2017-18 and 1.71 lakh in 2018-19.
The situation persists despite the civic agencies claiming that they have been making efforts to help students, especially the weaker ones, in their studies through projects such as Buniyaad and giving training to teachers.
EDMC said that the decline is enrolment rates is due to opening of primary sections in Delhi government schools. “Also, about 15% of our students have not attended school for at least six months. Most of them belong to migrant families who come to Delhi for temporary stays. We cannot strike off their names from the attendance rolls because of Right to Education Act. If we add their names to the enrolment list, then the figures will be higher,” said an official.
The civic agency has planned to merge 11 schools due to a drop in numbers.
Even in north Delhi, over 20,000 students have dropped out since 2016-17. Leader of the Opposition and AAP councillor Anil Lakra said that the poor condition of schools was to blame for the drop in enrolment numbers.
“In many schools, including four in my ward Mundka, students are forced to sit on the ground as there are no benches. There are at least 70 schools where the strength has reduced to 100. As the principals are on the verge of retirement, they don’t take extra efforts to improve the situation,” Lakra said.
Ritu Goel, education committee chairman, north corporation, said, “We have appointed 35 counsellors, made biometric attendance mandatory and have restricted transfer of teachers. The concessionaire for benches refused to supply them at the last moment, so we are planning to buy furniture made by Tihar Jail inmates.”
In south Delhi, 23,000 have students dropped out since 2016 despite the civic agency being the first one to introduce project Buniyaad and smart classes. Kamaljeet Sherawat, leader of House, SDMC, said that linking of Aadhaar card with students’ data has resulted in removal of 5% duplicate enrolments. “Also, after Delhi high court increased EWS quota from 10% to 25% in private schools, many students have shifted there,” she added.
Graduate teachers’ posts: 43% are vacant/ 2019
Shradha Chettri, April 6, 2019: The Times of India
From: Shradha Chettri, April 6, 2019: The Times of India
While the no-detention policy is often attributed for 73,561 Class IX students and 42,503 Class X students failing in Delhi government schools in 2017-18, there is another important reason for this dismal scholastic performance. Government schools do not have adequate staff to teach the major subjects. Details of vacancies acquired through a Right to Information application reveals that close to 43% of the graduate teachers’ posts related to nine important subjects are unoccupied.
To deal with this shortfall, the schools have employed guest teachers: Of the 33,783 sanctioned teachers for the nine subjects, only 19,243 are regular appointments. The 43% vacancies have been partly filled with 8,713 guest teachers. The rest of the posts, or 17%, remain vacant.
“Though the government has said that the principal and the School Management Committee of schools can pay and employ resource persons, not all schools can afford to do this. So it is incumbent on the government to have these posts filled,” said a principal of a north-east Delhi school. Such a step is important because the major subjects are being affected. In the 990 government school up to Class X in Delhi, for instance, the number of mathematics teachers sanctioned is 5,758. But 2,408 places are vacant, with 1,284 of them temporarily held by guest teachers, so the subject is still 20% of the required strength.
In subjects such as natural sciences, around 18% posts are unfilled, even after the appointment of guest teachers. And now with problems arising from the lapsing of guest teacher contracts on February 28, the situation is assuming serious proportions. The new academic session started on April 1, and guest teachers have joined work, but their continuation will depend on the judgment on the matter in Delhi high court.
The Directorate of Education (DoE) has requested the extension of the contracts of guests teachers till August 31, by when the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) hopes to have finalised the recruitment of 9,556 teachers. DoE requested the hiring of an additional 10,591 teachers, though these figures are for direct recruitments of both graduate trained teachers and post-graduate teachers.
In Delhi government schools, 75% of the teaching posts are filled by promoting ad-hoc teachers with the required qualifications while 25% are through direct recruitment. A DoE official cited this as the roadblock that has created a backlog since 2010. “It is only after 2015 there was some forward movement in recruiting teachers,” said the official. “We are hopeful of the issue being sorted out.”
There are many who look forward to such a progress. An exasperated Mahesh (name changed), whose two sons study in a school in Dakshinpuri in south Delhi, grumbled, “We are stopped from meeting the principal to ask him why teaching is not taking place in school. I have to send my sons for tuitions because that is the only way to get them well educated.”
Educationists too feel that the lack of permanent teachers affects the learning process. R Govinda, former vicechancellor of National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, explained, “Teaching is a process where students have to be nurtured through a close relationship. But with guest teachers, this is not possible. They work for eight months before their contract ends or takes them to another school.”
He added that there was a huge backlog in recruitment and said, “It is becoming difficult to decide whether new teachers should be hired or the ones already teaching in temporary positions should be retained because they are familiar with the system. In this process, students are at the losing end.”
Number of students
2017
Krittika Sharma, Pvt schools cater to 40% of students, March 20, 2018: The Times of India
The share of private schools in the city’s school education system has been on the rise in the last four years, touching nearly 40% in 2016-17, having logged an increase of nearly 10% between 2014-15 and 2016-17. However, correspondingly, enrolment in Delhi government schools fell in the three financial years, giving rise to questions about the efficacy of government strategies to improve its schools. The Economic Survey, released on Monday, however, noted that Delhi government spent nearly Rs 6,712 extra on each student in the past year.
According to the Economic Survey of Delhi 2016-17, the government increased its annual per student expenditure from Rs 54,910 to Rs 61,622 last year — an all-time high between April 2014 and March 2017 — as it focused on infrastructure and amenities in schools.
However, enrolment remained at the lower end of the spectrum compared with corresponding figures in the preceding fiscals. Enrolment was 16.1 lakh in 2013-14, fell to 15.1lakh in 2015-16 and recovered marginally to 15.3 lakh in 2016-17.
The survey also revealed that there exist schools in the capital that do not have basic necessities like electricity and playgrounds. More than 12% of the city’s schools do not have playgrounds, in clear violation of the Right to Education Act that makes it mandatory for every school to do so. The reach of electricity has also not reached every school, with at least 0.1% of the total lacking a power connection. However, the survey pointed out that every school in the capital had access to toilets — for both girls and boys — and drinking water.
The number of children attending pre-primary and primary schools in Delhi have also decreased though there are more children now than in the past fiscals in middle and secondary schools.
The performance of students in CBSE’s Class X exams was calculated at around 92.4%, lower when compared with the 93.1% across India. The performance of Class V and Class X students in Delhi, according to the National Achievement Survey 2015, was lower than the national average.
Interestingly, only two new universities in Delhi were started in the last seven years despite the need to accommodate a high number of students clearing the Class XII exams. The maximum increase in the number of colleges was five in the past year alone for professional education. On the other hand, 10 new technical institutes opened in Delhi after 2011, and enrolment in these institutes increased 54% since then.
Of the students enrolled in institutions of higher education in Delhi, women comprised 48%, better than the national average of 46.3%.
2013>2018: government, corporation schools
NGO paints dismal picture of govt school education in city, March 16, 2019: The Times of India
From: NGO paints dismal picture of govt school education in city, March 16, 2019: The Times of India
If the latest report of Praja Foundation about education in government and corporation schools is taken into consideration, the picture is not at all rosy. Not only have the corporations and Delhi government failed to spend the per-capita student budget, but enrolment in Class I in municipal schools has fallen by 43% in the past nine years and there has been a 55% failure rate in Class IX in government schools.
However, the enrolment in private and Kendriya Vidyalayas during the same period increased by 14%.
The Praja Foundation report, State of Public (School) Education in Delhi, released on Friday has raised concerns about the quality of education. While Delhi government has constantly emphasised that education is its highest priority, the report revealed that 40% of the ruling AAP MLAs didn’t even raise a single issue on education.
Delhi government, however, rubbished the report. “The organisation has no clue about the ground reality. Even their past surveys show their ignorance. It would have been better had they compared the school education in Delhi before 2015 to now,” a government spokesperson said.
Milind Mhaske, director at Praja Foundation, said “The performance of public schools in the past five years shows a disturbing trend. Class I enrolment in municipal schools has fallen from 1,69,215 students in 2010-11 to 95,817 in 2017-18. If the current trend continues, then according to a time-series analysis enrolments are further expected to drop to 37,938, a fall of 78%, by 2020-21.”
In state government schools, 97% students in Class VII of 2014-15 batch moved to Class VIII the next year. However, out of 3,11,824 Class IX students in 2016-17, only 1,38,829 (45%) moved to Class X in 2017-18. “Where did the 1,72,995 students who did not transition to Class X go?” asked Nitai Mehta, founder and managing trustee of Praja Foundation.
Under the state’s correspondence education scheme ‘Patrachar’, students who failed in Classes VIII or IX can apply for giving the Class X exam through correspondence. “The enrolment and pass-out data shows an absolute failure of the Patrachar scheme. In 2017-18, only 2,830 students (2% of the students who dropped out of government schools) registered for Class X,” Mehta said.
Moreover, pass percentage of Class X fell from 92.44% in 2016-17 to 68.90% in 2017-18 for government schools after the CBSE examination pattern was reintroduced. “All this points to poor learning outcomes of students over the years. In Class IX, more than half the students didn’t move to secondary education-level through examination. In primary and middle school, they were promoted irrespective of learning levels,” said Mhaske.
“With the recent amendment to RTE Act, students can now be failed in classes V and VIII. It will be of primary importance to ensure that the quality of education is improved. Without this effort, students will continue to have poor learning outcomes and possibly drop out of the education system,” said Mehta.
The reports states that despite the state allocating huge amount of financial resources — Rs 75,056 per child for 2018-19 — the future of lakhs of students is at stake. There has been no seriousness on the part of elected representatives as 22 AAP MLAs didn’t raise even a single issue on education between March 2017 and January 2018.
In the corporations, in 2017-18 only 11% of the 272 councillors raised more than 10 issues, of which 62% were from BJP, 21% from AAP and 17% from Congress.
A senior corporation official said that the major reasons for the dwindling numbers are preference of parents to put their wards in schools that are up to Class XII, opening of primary sections by Delhi government schools, migration of labourer parents and prevalence of private schools. Other reasons include low utilisation of funds, procedural delays by Delhi government and frequent transfer of education department officials.
While Delhi government has constantly emphasised that education is its highest priority, the report revealed that 40% of the ruling AAP MLAs didn’t even raise a single issue on education
Nursery admissions: Guidelines
The Times of India, Dec 10 2015
No clarity on rent deeds as proof
The directorate of education's failure in including rent agreements as valid document for residence proof has led to confusion among parents. A large number of parents, whose children will be vying for nursery seats, stay on rent and they have been left wondering whether the documents would be acceptable. “We generally accept rent agreement or a bank account passbook with the address on it as residence proof. We are quite flexible in this regard,“ said Tania Joshi, principal, The Indian School. In the past, the DoE suggested the documents.
“I live in a rented house and have gas connection and rent agreement documents.But will they be accepted as valid address proof ?“ asked a parent on admissionsnursery com. The website owner, Sumit Vohra, said about a quarter of his users live on rent.
“Not all schools accept the rent deed as proof. As per convention, registered rent deeds that are six months old should be added to the list of valid documents,“ he said. Many parents choose to move to ar eas rich in schools so they have more options for admitting their wards.
On the draw of lots, the guidelines say it “shall be conducted in a transparent manner, preferably in presence of parents.“ Vohra points out that in past years presence of parents or videography was mandatory . Making this optional gives schools permission to not allow parents during the draw. The debate on upper age limit has been on for years. There will be confusion on this too as some schools include age in their criteria and allot points to it.
The guidelines are for general category and private unaided schools. Though the circular doesn't specify this, the DoE has clarified that it will be applicable to minority institutions as well.
The decision on economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups has been welcomed by schools, though lawyer-activist Khagesh Jha maintains it is discriminatory .“Let the government handle it. Especially after last year, I don't want any problems,“ Joshi said. Delhi Police had cracked down on fake EWS admissions last year and even arrested a school principal.
February 2016
HC restores management quota
The Times of India, Feb 05 2016
Management quota back as HC stays AAP govt's decision The Delhi high court stay ed the AAP government's decision to scrap management quota in nursery admissions on Thursday , calling it a balancing act “whereby discretion of private unaided schools was minimised, but not altogether abolished“. The court said the government's circular staying the quota was “without any authority“ and in conflict with a 2007 order by the LG. The high court's interim order, unless superseded by a larger bench or Supreme Court, is likely to govern nursery admissions this year, reports Abhinav Garg.
In a partial relief, the court endorsed the city government's elimination of 51 of 62 admission criteria, saying “there's nothing in the (remaining) 11 criteria which would show that they are unreasonable...(andor) can lead to maladministration“.
HC stays nursery order to scrap management quota
The Times of India, Feb 05 2016
Abhinav Garg
Says crucial to maintain school autonomy, but okays govt decision to cancel 51 of 62 criteria
The Delhi high court stayed the AAP government's decision to scrap the management quota in nursery admissions. Justice Manmohan said the Delhi government's circular was “without any authority“ and in conflict with a 2007 order issued by the LG. “A balancing act was done by the Ganguly Committee and the government whereby discretion of private unaided schools was minimised, but not altogether abolished,“ Justice Manmohan said, adding that the quota had been recommended by the Ganguly panel and approved by the government in 2007.
There was some consolation for the government as the court endorsed the striking down of 51 of the 62 admission criteria; but 11were retained as the schools pleaded these were necessary to maintain autonomy and discretion. These include proven track record of parents, extra marks for skills in music or sports, empirical achievements and the gender of a child.
The court accepted these on the ground that “there is nothing in the 11criteria which would show that they are unre asonable or based on whims and fancies and or they can lead to maladministration“.
The court pointed out that the 2007 order permitted management quota up to 20% and it cannot be overturned. It said “promoters of a school who make investment at their own personal risk are entitled to full autonomy in administration, including the right to admit students“ as long as they don't misuse it. The court also highlighted the failure of the AAP government to get approval from the LG before issuing the circular.It reminded the government that under the rules, only the LG has the authority to issue guidelines.
The interim order came on the pleas filed by Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools and Forum for Promotion of Quality Education for All, challenging the abolition of the management quota and other criteria by the government.
Differing with the state government, the court said, “Taking into account the parentage of the child may be relevant in certain circumstances, for instance, if the father of the child was a recipient of a gallantry award or a sports award or had given valuable advice and service to the school like a doctor, then giving preferen ce to such a ward in admission would not constitute maladministration. In all probability , such parents would contribute to the growth and evolution of the school as well as its students.“
The court also said that even the EWS category is based on the parentage of a child.
The court recalled the fate of an earlier attempt in 2013 to abolish the management quota and pointed out that the LG's order was quashed by court.
2016: Can't fix upper age limit: HC
The Times of India, Feb 06 2016
Abhinav Garg
Directs DoE To Accept Nursery Applications Till February 9, 2016
Governments can't spring surprises on parents or children in education, which is a Fundamental Right, the Delhi high court said, staying another nursery admission circular of Delhi government. A day after staying the government's decision to scrap the management quota, Justice Manmohan allowed children above the age of four to apply for admissions in pre-school or nursery classes in private schools. The court has told DoE to ensure schools accept application till 4pm of February 9.
The court, however, stopped short of commenting on the absence of LG's sanction for the age criteria after the government submitted that it had not addressed the court on this point. HC then asked the director of education to ensure that EWS applications are also accepted online, and posted the case for further hearing where it will take up other legal issues connected to the circular.
The bench said there was no upper age limit before December 18, 2014, for years and the cap had surprised many parents, who would have planned for the admission of their children if they had known it earlier.
The court also acknowledged that it becomes diffi cult for children to get admission in higher classes if they have not studied in the same school earlier since institutions prefer to promote their own students.
HC's order came on a number of petitions filed by minors or their parents, challenging the Delhi government's notification fixing the maximum age for nursery in private unaided schools at four years. Advocates Ashok Aggarwal and Rishi Manchanda appeared for some of the petitioners.
2018: Govt. norms for nursery, KG, Class I in Sarvodaya Vidyalayas
Krittika Sharma, Nursery norms for govt schools out, February 27, 2018: The Times of India
Application Forms To Be Available After Holi
Admission to nursery, KG and Class I in Sarvodaya Vidyalayas (SV) have been notified by Delhi government and forms will be available from March 3 to
17. However, in case seats remain vacant, admissions will remain open throughout the year.
Applicants living in close vicinity (1km) of the school will be preferred for admission, but those in a 3km-radius will also be accepted.
“If the number of applicants is not adequate, then children residing beyond 3km can be enrolled,” reads a circular released by the directorate of education (DoE) on Monday.
The nursery classes will begin from April 2.
The DoE circular mentions that applicants will have to be at least three years of age and below four years to be admitted to nursery, 4-5 years for KG and 5-6 years for Class I.
A similar upper age limit will be applied to nursery classes of private recognised schools starting the 2018-19 academic session. Currently, there is no age bar.
“Older children have to be given admission in age appropriate classes,” the circular adds.
Selection of candidates will be done through a draw of lots. However, if the number of applicants does not exceed the number of seats, then no draw of lots will be conducted.
The forms will be available free of cost on the DoE website as well as the school gates. Students who are unable to furnish essential documents at the time of admission will be given 30 days provisional admission on the basis of an undertaking on plain paper by the parents/guardians.
Details of such children will have to be furnished to Cluster Resource Coordinators (CRCs).
The government has reserved 27.5% seats for SC/ ST/handicapped/DoE employee wards.
“In case there are no reserved category candidates, the vacant seats will be given to others on the waiting list,” the circular reads.
Last year, Delhi government had announced the plan to start its own nursery classes in its 442 Sarvodaya schools, even where KG classes were in progress. Each SV will have 1-2 sections of 40 students each in nursery, KG and Class I.
Performance of schools
2011-16
The Times of India, December 16, 2016
Schools battle mass failure in Class IX, XI
In its first annual report on public school education in Delhi, the Praja Foundation says what the Delhi government has long acknowledged and has been working on--there's mass failure in Class IX.
The report, released by the NGO, also signals other concerns in all classes--high levels of absenteeism (especially in municipal schools), drop in enrolment figures at primary level despite the Right to Education Act, and the presence of shadow education in the form of private coaching.
According to the report, while all corporation and state government schools have witnessed a high dropout rate in 2014-15 and 2015-16, the east corporation tops the list at 16.3% and 17.7%, respectively. The figure for government schools is 2.9% and 3.1%. The rate of absenteeism is very high in municipal schools. In some districts and subjects, nearly one-fifth of a class was absent at least for a month during a school year.
“The drop in enrolment figures could be due to the linkage with Aadhaar, which has eliminated a lot of duplication. Earlier, children would leave and enrol elsewhere,“ said Saumya Gupta, director, education. Some of the attrition in lower classes, she said, could also be due to efforts to implement the 25% quota for EWS and disadvantaged children.
Explaining the highest dropout rate, Jitender Chaudhary , standing committee chairman of the east corporation, said, “Parents want to send their children to English-medium schools but we don't have many . Many students also come from EWS section and these kids often have to work to stabilise their family's income. We will take steps to fix it.“
The report stated that from 2011 to 2013, government school students performed slightly better than their private school counterparts.“However, in the past three years, they are gradually falling behind.“ The Class X pass percentage in 2015-16 was 95.43% in private schools, while it was 89.25% in the state schools. The report also raised concerns about a significant number of students being held back in classes IX and XI. In government schools, 45.08% of the Class IX students didn't qualify for Class X in 2015-16. For Class XI, the number stood at 34.6%. Gupta said the govern ment's Chunauti programme and a fresh opportunity to kids who have failed Class IX more than twice might “make a huge dent in the dropout rate after Class IX“.
2016: Delhi vs. the national average
The Times of India, Apr 12 2016
Manash Gohain However, Class V Students Do Better Than National Average
The performan ce of Class III students in Delhi is lower than the national average in languages and significantly lower in mathematics. However, the trend is bucked in Class V , where student performance is much higher than the national average. Unfortunately , this achievement is not sustained, with performance in mathematics in Classes VIII and X plunging below the national benchmark. These were revealed by the National Achievement Surveys (NAS) conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
Explaining this dismal graph for mathematics, a teacher in a Delhi government school explained, “Up to Class V , mathematics essentially means counting and a bit of fractions. But students find it hard to cope with integers introduced in Class VI because teachers themselves face problems with the subject.“
At the Class VIII level, the worrisome performance comes in mathematics, science and social sciences, where Delhi's student fell below the national average. Ashok Pandey , principal of Ahlcon International School at Mayur Vihar, attributed this to a “mismatch in the syllabi of the various stages from primary classes to middle school, and from high school to senior secondary“.
“Syllabus development has to progress logically else it causes gaps at various levels,“ said Pandey , and pointed out how while primary classes had no separate science subject besides environmental science, from Class VI onwards, the degree of difficulty for students became sharply high with the separation of the subject into science and social science.
“The teacher's ability to teach shows in the learning ability of the child, especially in Class VI where a lot of new concepts are introduced,“ added Anuradha Joshi, principal of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya.
CBSE Class X results: Delhi, 2015-18
Krittika Sharma, Boards give govt schools a reality check, May 30, 2018: The Times of India
From: Krittika Sharma, Boards give govt schools a reality check, May 30, 2018: The Times of India
TASK CUT OUT: Class X Pass Percentage Dips To 69.3 From 92.4 in 2017
The Class X pass percentage in Delhi government schools has dropped to 69.3 from 92.4 lin 2017 indicating a drastic decline after the Central Board of Secondary Education reverted to board-conducted examinations following an eight-year gap. Though Delhi government had adopted numerous methods to ensure that its students fared well in the dreaded exams, it is clear that the directorate of education has its work cut out in the coming academic session.
According to CBSE data for Delhi, the government and government-aided schools had the worst results in the capital, with a pass percentage of 69.3 for the former and 69.9 for the latter. Last year, education minister and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had claimed in a series of tweets that the 2017 pass percentage had risen to 92.4, an improvement of 3.2 over 2016.
In comparison, central government schools did commendably well, with Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas logging a success rate of 98.6% and the Kendriya Vidyalayas, 97.1%.
Sources said that at a government boys’ school in Shalimar Bagh, only 45 of the 138 students passed, a pass rate of 31.5%. Another in Qadipur recorded just 53.12%, down from 99.7% in 2017, with 110 students getting a compartment result. A Sarvodaya School in Vijay Nagar also logged a pass percentage of 39, with 26 students of the 61 getting a compartment. At a girls’ school in Jahangirpuri, the pass percentage fell from 88 in 2017 to 29.9 this year.
Sisodia nevertheless congratulated his teachers and education department for boosting the success percentage from 30 in pre-board exams to 69 in the main exams. “Would specially like to congratulate teachers and principals of govt schools… Great work by the whole Team Education,” Sisodia tweeted.
The minister also conceded that the going was tough for students with the board exams making a return after a long gap. “Many congratulations to all students who have passed the Class X CBSE Board exams. It was a tough year for all students as board exams were happening for the first time after 10 years,” he said on Twitter.
The results seemed to have been foreseen in the preboard exams in the Delhi government schools. The 991secondary schools run by Delhi government had logged an average pass percentage of 31.5, with some schools going as low as 26 a month before the main exams. An alarmed Sisodia had asked the education directorate to act against teachers and principals of schools with low pass percentages, saying “there cannot be any justifiable reason for the schools being unable to support the learning of its students to the extent that not even 10 children are able to secure the minimum pass marks in each subject”.
In comparison, the capital’s private schools fared much better with a success rate of 89.5%. Among the eight Amity Schools in in Delhi and NCR, 826 students out of 1,659 obtained over 90% aggregates, with the highest earned by students of Amity Noida. Delhi Public School, RK Puram, also recorded a high pass percentage of 99.
Manav Rachna International School in Noida had a top aggregate of 96.4%, and all the students cleared the exams. Mount Abu School had a similar pass figure, with 10 of its 135 students scoring 100%. Manav Sthali School in Rajendra Nagar had 138 of its 443 students earning a distinction in all five subjects. While the top aggregate percentage at Ahlcon International was 97.4, Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj, had 98.2 and The Indian School, 98.2.
Right to Education Act
2010-17: low compliance with RTE
See graphic:
Delhi schools’ compliance with RTE, 2010-17
From: February 9, 2018: The Times of India
Disinterest among schools, perceived discrimination between EWS and general category students, and lack of support from the government have contributed to low compliance to the provisions of the Right to Education Act, under which 25% seats in all private schools must be reserved for EWS/disadvantaged group candidates.
The government has also been blamed for not setting up any monitoring committee to follow through after a child is admitted. According to a report released by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, 7% of EWS/DG seats in Delhi private schools have either gone empty, or given to general category students for the last two years.
However, this number has been an improvement from 2010-11, when only 6% seats were filled under the RTE mandate, according to the report. According to Priyank Kunoongo, an NCPCR member who headed the study, the biggest takeaway from the findings is that the government needs to follow up after the admissions are made.
“There is no monitoring mechanism in this respect. After a child is admitted, he needs to be dealt with sensitively, through love and care, to be mainstreamed,” he said.
The child rights body also found schools hesitant in taking in EWS/ DG kids; 13.5% of the principals were against RTE admission. They complained that they were not being reimbursed for additional facilities and were given Rs 600-1,000 per student for stationery, books and uniform. The remaining cost is borne by parent in some cases. In fact, some schools told NCPCR that they had not been paid for the last two years.
NCPCR suggested that when per-child cost is calculated, all expenditures be taken into account, since RTE mandates that total cost of education be borne by the state.
Principals pointed out they were being given fake income and caste certificates and there was no mechanism to validate and authenticate documents. Schools suggested that government evolve a strict mechanism to conduct proper checks. In some instances, said schools, while the online verification had passed income certificates, they were rejected by SDM offices during physical evaluation.
The schools also believed that EWS children were more prone to initiating a fight, hurling abuses or stealing from other children. “Abusive language and misbehaviour by EWS category students was more difficult to solve due to wrong precedent being set in home environment,” some principals told NCPCR. The members were told that EWS kids were slow learners, or had trouble learning English, and, so, lacked focus in class. Their health and hygiene was also a concern.
However, the rights body observed that it was the responsibility of the school to provide a child the right environment, and that the “slow learner” perception was illogical because, at three years, a child “should not be expected to know any other language other than the mother tongue”.
It observed that, contrary to principal observations, general category and EWS kids were found to mingle amicable in 94% of the surveyed schools. “This observation raises an important question. If children don’t discriminate among themselves, then what is the reason that such thoughts float? As it is clear from the view expressed by principals and teachers, lack of training to create opportunities for these children to effectively adjust in the school environment gives rise to such biased views.”
The report observed that schools don’t take the initiative to fill empty seats, while some tried to do so with general category students. “The schools quote absence of proper guidelines from DoE to maintain the ratio till class VIII as a reason for not taking admission after entry class,” the report said.
It found the schools clueless about what to do if a student dropped out of school or didn’t join at all. While the school is supposed to send a notification to DoE stating that the child allotted to them has not joined, this is not done when a child leaves voluntarily.
The report also blames the school for not trying to follow up with the parent after a child drops out of school. The child rights body has suggested that the government EWS/DG kids’ parents be included in PTA, teachers be given better training, NCERT/ SCERT books be strictly prescribed and orientation programmes be held for teachers to help ease students into the mainstream. =
School admission criteria
2017: relative freedom to schools
ii) Criteria that schools can use
From: December 25, 2017: The Times of India
See graphic:
i) Criteria that schools can't use;
ii) Criteria that schools can use
Private schools this time have been largely given the authority to set their own criteria — excluding the 51 abolished by the Delhi high court — for nursery admission.
Last year, most schools had given neighbourhood the maximum points, while several had given girl child and sibling a strong preference during selection of candidates. With the admission guidelines releasing just a few days ago, schools have another week before they are expected to upload the final criteria on the directorate of education website.
In January 2016, the Delhi government had abolished 62 criteria adopted by private recognised unaided schools, including those that allot points for parents being vegetarian, non-smokers or three-year-olds having “similar cultural ethos”. While most of these criteria were abolished by the high court too, when challenged, the schools were allowed to use 11of them.
The other 51 criteria were abolished after the government found most of them to be discriminatory towards the child or unclear in mandate. Several admissions, before this, were being made on arbitrary basis like the structure of family a child comes from; the attitude and values of the child or the family; and whether the parent was running a business or was in service.
The government had reasoned that several of these criteria were unclear, undefined, illogical and likely to be misused. For example, while abolishing the language points—in which the child got two points if he/she could speak, read or write the language—the government had called it “illogical”. “Small children should be on equal footing in every respect as the entry-level class is the starting level of learning,” the department stated. Similarly, the criteria for “scholar students” was shot down because “no scholastic aptitude can be tested at the entry-level classes”.
This year, most schools plan to go by the same criteria they had applied last year. “We have still not decided because we need to study the notification and make need-based changes, if at all,” said Manohar Lal, principal of DPS Mathura Road. Last year, he said, the maximum points were given to neighbourhood, sibling and alumni. Other schools said that while it was too early to comment on what their admission criteria will be, they are planning to make minute changes, if at all, this year.
The private schools have to upload details of criteria and points allotted by December 26. The admission process will start from December 27.
Valid vs. contentious criteria
From: Krittika Sharma, Points Allotted For Non-Transferable Jobs Of Parents, Mother’s Graduate Status, December 28, 2017: The Times of India
Schools risk action over ‘unfair’ criteria
Several schools, including minority ones, have failed to comply with the 51 abolished criteria that have been termed “unfair” by the high court and Delhi government for nursery admissions. Despite several reminders, many schools have sought preference for candidates whose parents are in nontransferable jobs, who have first cousins studying there — that too from a joint family — or if the mother is a graduate and a housewife, among other criteria.
In its circular dated December 19 notifying admission to nursery classes across 1,700 schools in the capital, the directorate of education (DoE) had directed that none of them shall use the abolished criteria.
Lawyers, however, maintained that some schools are justified in allocating points for some of these criteria “that are in tune with the ethos of the minority institution”.
Kamal Gupta, a lawyer who usually represents private schools for Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools, gave the example of a Jain minority school. “A Jain school can allocate points to vegetarian, non-smoker and teetotaller parents because their religion endorses it and these are social evils,” he explained.
The government, however, believes that no school, even minority ones, can use the abolished criteria to allocate points. “We will now start sending notices to these schools,” said Atishi Marlena, advisor to education minister Manish Sisodia.
However, data uploaded on the DoE website shows that certain schools, like Guru Harkishan Public School in Nihal Vihar in north Delhi, have allocated points to candidates with graduate mothers who are housewives. This school does not figure in the minority list. The school has also allocated points for “Amritdhari” candidates (10 points) and minority students (10 points).
Similarly, schools like Cosmos Public School (Vasundhara Enclave), New Cosmos Public School (Taimur Nagar), Tagore Public School (Jheel Kuranja), Good Luck Modern School (Prahladpur), Infant Jesus School (Dwarka) have also allocated points to candidates whose parents have transferable jobs. Of these, no school falls in the minority list, except Infant Jesus School.
Another non-minority school, Sachdeva Convent School (Sangam Vihar), has allotted points to candidates if both parents are employed. New Cosmos Public School in Taimur Nagar has also allocated 10 points to candidates who have first cousins studying in the same school. Jagriti Public School in Sangam Vihar will give 10 points to candidates with “siblings, including cousin in the joint family with same address”.
Neo Convent School (Paschim Vihar), a minority school, has allotted points for “regularity in dues”, “sibling performance”, and 20 points for “parents’ reasons for approaching the school”. In fact, the admission form available on the school website has a separate section for a “write-up” on the parents’ reasons for approaching the school.
Schools of Excellence
The concept
March 26, 2019: The Times of India
The Schools of Excellence are English medium Delhi government schools. Students residing in Delhi who have passed Class VIII from any recognised school are eligible to apply for admission to class IX. A student can get himself/herself registered manually for any one of the schools as per choice. “No request for change of School of Excellence shall be entertained in any case/at any stage. Hence, the applicants are advised to get themselves registered for entrance test in a school of excellence of their choice,” said a circular.
The admission to classes will be held through an entrance test.
Science education
2017: 28% of govt schools have science stream
From: Krittika Sharma, No fiction: Less than a third of govt schools in city have science stream, December 11, 2017: The Times of India
Uneven Distribution Leaves Pockets Where There Are Hardly Any That Offer Subject Of Choice
Less than a third of Delhi government schools provide science stream as an option in senior secondary education — this means that children are forced to either opt for a stream they do not want, or travel long distances to other government schools that do offer science, or move to private schools. In fact, according to data compiled by a lawyer-activist Yusuf Naqi using the directorate of education website and several RTI replies, there are only two schools in central Delhi out of 41 that offer science, testifying to an uneven and insufficient spread.
According to Naqi, who recently filed a plea in Delhi High Court, the three streams — science, commerce and arts — are distributed so unevenly that while certain bordering zones have more science and commerce schools than others, there are “shadow pockets” that don’t have any such schools for several kilometres. For example, he pointed out, in northeast Delhi, zone 4 has 19 schools out 49 that offer science, whereas zone 5 has only 10 schools out of 44 that offer the subject.
Similarly, in the east, zone 3 has 27 schools, with eight offering science; zone 1has only 11 schools out of 26 that offer the subject. “The distribution is so uneven that not everybody has access to subjects of their choice, as a government school must provide. The matter came to my notice after I realised that in the central Delhi area where I stay, there are only two schools that offer science,” Naqi said.
According to his calculations, only 279 schools across Delhi have science — out of 1,029. However, in a response filed by the government in court, the number is pegged at 291: still a lowly 28%. “Not everyone has that kind of money to spend for education in a private school. So, they opt for arts in a government school, instead,” Naqi said.
Delhi government officials, however, said schools offering science stream have come down over the last decade because the number of students meeting the eligibility criteria, too, has fallen. “Not enough kids have been scoring high enough to be given the science stream in schools,” said Atishi Marlena, advisor to education minister Manish Sisodia. She added that to offer science on the senior secondary level, labs need to be made available to students. “We are still working on the infrastructure. Every science lab needs classroom space, and we need at least 2-3 labs in a school when offering science. We have planned to add another 13,000-classroom space in the long term,” she said.
Then, there is the question of administrative viability. “Other than just eligibility, we also have to look at how many students want to take science. It is not viable for us to run a science stream for just 5-6 kids because we need to create labs, equip them and create teacher posts too. We need at least 30-40 students in a school to start a new stream,” said Marlena.
As a science teacher in a government girls senior secondary school in Jama Masjid told TOI, many students from her school — which only offers arts — decide to leave for elsewhere, but end up coming back because finding a seat in a private school is also not easy. “In fact, we tell them that they apply for a transfer certificate only after they secure a seat in another school. Most of the time, they don’t. So, they come back and take arts here because that’s the only option,” she said, on the condition of anonymity as she is not authorised to speak to the media. Marlena pointed out that, as an interim measure, the government is expanding the number of schools offering commerce to give children more career choices. “There has been an increase of 36-40% of schools offering commerce,” she said.
However, going by its response in high court, DoE believes that there are “sufficient number of schools equipped with science and commerce stream”. It also stated that students have “other schools” to go to for their desired stream. “Besides government schools and government aided schools, science and commerce streams are also available in other schools, which could be availed by students as per their choice,” the DoE wrote in its response in November.
It also claimed that streams were allotted to schools “as per the demand”. However, Naqi questioned how the department assessed the demand, if it didn’t make any offer in the first place.
However, the principal of a reputed private school, on the condition of anonymity, clarified that all schools must offer a subject even if there was one student asking for it. “At the end of Class X, we send a form to the parents informing them about the eligibility criteria to join different streams and what subject combinations are offered. When a student makes a request, we assess whether he is eligible for the stream or not,” the principal said, adding that most government schools discourage children from taking science because of fear that non-performing children will bring down the Class XII Board results.
Interestingly, enrolment in science stream in government schools has also been on the rise, as per government data. In the court response, DoE stated that there were 10,405 enrolments in science in 2016 (as on September 8), which increased to 11,715 as on September 8, 2017. However, for the 1,310 increased enrolments, there have been only 15 schools that have started the science stream.
Naqi’s case is set to come up for another hearing in February next year, until when the high court has asked DoE to map schools in its 29 zones by colour-coding those offering commerce, science and arts.
Standard of education
2017: Class III govt school students fall below learning curve
From: Manash Gohain, Class III govt school students falling below learning curve, January 28, 2018: The Times of India
See graphic:
National Achievement Survey, statistics on language and maths, region-wise, January 2018
NCERT Survey Finds South District Schools Worst Performers In Delhi
Almost half the Class III students of government and aided schools in Delhi have been unable to demonstrate that they have learnt their lessons well. This was revealed by the National Achievement Survey (NAS) learning outcome data collated by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). And with the advantaged South finishing bottom of the rung among Delhi’s nine districts, it seems better managed schools with comparatively better infrastructure will not always ensure better learning.
Learning outcome is a description of what a student should know and demonstrate knowledge of at the end of a course. By this token, 47.4% of Class III students showed they had not grasped what they were taught in mathematics, and 42.9% in language. South district proved to have the worst performers in this assessment. In all the three subjects surveyed — mathematics, language and environmental science — the performance of the Class III students of schools in the South was below those of the rest of the districts.
The overall average performance of Delhi students in EVS was 54.07%, though of those who answered questions correctly in the subject, 21.2% scored below 30%. Similarly, for mathematics the overall average performance was 52.56%, while 20.7% scored under 30%.
Significantly, it was not only in overall performance that South lagged. It also had the most students whose learning outcome was below 30%.
While a comparison of Delhi against the national average or with other states was not possible because NCERT is yet to release the state-wise analyses, the capital’s district information clearly hints at a lot of work still to be undertaken by government and aided schools. The best performers were West, New Delhi and East districts. In EVS, West district schools logged the highest learning outcome score of 60.1%, followed by New Delhi and East. In language, West again led with a score of 62.4%, followed by East and New Delhi. In mathematics, New Delhi topped with 58.3% followed by West with 57.1%.
In the range of performance — divided into four groups of 30% and below, 31-50%, 51-75% and above 75% — West had the maximum number of students scoring 75% and above in mathematics and language, while New Delhi had the most getting high marks in EVS. The data also showed that learning outcome among girls was better than among boys. The gap is highest for language learning (58.5% for girls to 55.6% for boys), with the other subjects showing marginal advantage for girls.
The learning outcome of ST and OBC student was also higher than those of SC and general-category students. While the ST students demonstrated better learning in EVS and mathematics, OBCs outperformed their peers in language.
It is for the first time that NCERT has released districtwise NAS data after assessing 2.2 million children in 705 districts. The survey earlier used to be done at the state level. NCERT is yet to release the state-wise analyses, and this story is based on the district data shared by the Union HRD ministry.
NAS uses a representative sample of students and is not an examination, but checks the general health of the education system. The competency-based test questions reflect the learning outcomes that are incorporated in the Right to Education Act to measure competency of the students across India.
2017: Class V govt school students fare worse
See graphic:
The average performance of Class V students
From: Manash Gohain, If Class III was bad, here’s how govt schoolkids fare in Class V, January 31, 2018: The Times of India
NCERT Survey Again Finds South District Schools The Worst Performers
While almost half the Class III students of government and aided schools in Delhi have not learnt their lessons well, the situation is worse in Class V. Barring language, the learning levels of the Class V students, reveals National Achievement Survey (NAS), could not even touch the halfway mark.
The learning of mathematics, the data shows, had been as low as 43.4% — 52.6% in Class III— and even among those who could answer correctly, nearly one-third (29.61%) scored below 30% and 35.4% of the students between 30% and 50%. Even in language, the learning level of 51.6% in Class V was lower than that of 57.1% in Class III. In environmental science (EVS), the average performance was 48.4% against 54.1% in Class III.
The survey, conducted across 705 districts — including the nine in Delhi — by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), took 489 schools as samples for deciding the learning outcome of Class V students. Learning outcome is a description of what a student should know and demonstrate knowledge of at the end of a course.
This was the first time that NAS provided districtwise data, which showed that like in Class III, South Delhi district remained at the bottom among the Delhi districts in the three subjects as well as in various sub-categories.
New Delhi recorded the best performance in Class V for EVS and mathematics, while North Delhi was at the top in language.
West Delhi lost the leadership role in Class V, but not by a big margin, and stayed among the top three districts of Delhi.
The girls are definitely concentrating better as they had nearly 2%-point lead over the boys in EVS and mathematics. In language, the gap was the highest — nearly 4% points.
In a reversal of the trend from Class III, rural schools performed better in Class V in all three subjects, and by a significant margin. The gap was 6.2% points in mathematics, 4.8% points in EVS, and 4.5% points in language.
In the range of performance — divided into four groups of 30% and below, 31-50%, 51-75% and above 75% — New Delhi had the maximum number of students scoring 75% and above in mathematics and EVS, while North Delhi is on top in language with 20.79% of its students scoring 75% and above.
Subjects/ streams preferred: science\ arts\ commerce
2023
Sourav Roy Barman, May 31, 2023: The Indian Express
From: Sourav Roy Barman, May 31, 2023: The Indian Express
Records show that in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, of those who appeared in Class 12 boards in 2022, Arts stream students accounted for a mere 1.53 per cent, 2.01 per cent and 2.19 per cent respectively.
STUDENTS enrolled in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka education boards are more likely to choose the Science stream in their Class XI-XII with less than 2 per cent in three of these states opting for Arts. However, Arts is the preferred option for their counterparts in West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Jharkhand, according to a Union Government study.
Records show that in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, of those who appeared in Class 12 boards in 2022, Arts stream students accounted for a mere 1.53 per cent, 2.01 per cent and 2.19 per cent respectively.
The top five states (excluding Northeast) where Science was the popular pick were: Andhra Pradesh (75.63 per cent); Telangana (64.59 per cent); Tamil Nadu (61.50 per cent); Uttar Pradesh (57.13); and Kerala (44.50 per cent).
Among Northeast states, in Manipur as many as 68.87 per cent of those who took the Class XII board exams opted for Science.
The top five states where most state board students chose Arts were: Gujarat (81.55 per cent); West Bengal (78.94 per cent); Punjab (72.89 per cent); Haryana (73.76 per cent); Rajasthan (71.23 per cent). In the Northeast, Arts is the popular choice in Meghalaya (82.62), Tripura (85.12 per cent) and Nagaland (79.62 per cent).
During the academic session 2021-22, the least takers for Science were in West Bengal (13.42 per cent); Punjab (13.71 per cent); Haryana (15.63 per cent), Gujarat (18.33 per cent) and Jharkhand (22.91 per cent).
The study, which was carried out as part of the Centre’s efforts to bring equivalence in assessment among various education boards, found that the percentage of students who cleared high school in 2022 also varied “significantly” among boards. The average pass percentage of state boards in Class 12 was 86.3 per cent in 2022, compared to 93.1 per cent in Central boards.
These numbers reflect a significant national trend as in 2022, of all Class 12 board exam candidates, as high as 87 per cent belonged to state boards, and 13 per cent were affiliated to Central boards, including CBSE. Considered separately, CBSE students accounted for just 10 per cent of the total candidates who registered to take the Class 12 exam across boards. “We have shared the study with the states as well. PARAKH will look into the meaning behind these numbers,” said Department of School Education and Literacy Secretary Sanjay Kumar.
PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), is a new division under the NCERT which has been tasked with addressing differences in assessment, which results in disparities in scores of board exams, among various state boards and the CBSE.
In the case of Central board students, 49.91 per cent students belonged to Science stream, while of the class of 2022, 16.31 per cent were pursuing Arts.
