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Delhi government wants youngsters’ participation in revamping the education system.
The Delhi government’s latest initiative is a fellowship programme to involve youngsters in implementing Delhi’s school education policy. Under the ‘Change-Makers in Education’ Fellowship, 54 fellows will appointed for a minimum period of 1 year, extendable to 2 years
After announcing the 'Chunauti 2018' academic plan to assist Class IX students pass high school, the Delhi government’s latest initiative is a fellowship programme, which will engage and involve young people in implementing Delhi's school education policy.
On 24 June the Council of Ministers approved the ‘Change-Makers in Education’ Fellowship, under which 54 fellows will appointed for a minimum period of 1 year, extendable to 2 years, at a monthly stipend of ₹40,000.
Candidates aged between 22 and 35 years, with at least 2 years of experience in education or the social sector, will be eligible to apply.
Once enrolled, each of the fellows will be attached to one of the following 8 government initiatives – School Management Committee, Mentor Teacher Programme, Online Platform for Teacher Training, Counselling and Guidance, Management Information Systems, Learning Assessment, Principal Leadership Development Programme, and Special Education.
The fellows will work in tandem with the Department of Education, the State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) and other stakeholders.
Shailendra Sharma, principal advisor to the director (education), Delhi, shared that although the fellows will be appointed for a specific initiative corresponding to the 8 listed above, the highlight of the fellowship would be the implementation of the 'Chunauti 2018' education reform plan.
As indicated by the name ('chunauti' is Hindi for 'challenge'), the government wants to make sure that even the "weakest" Class IX students pass Class X by 2018.
"Because of the Centre's No-Detention Policy (NDP), students are promoted to Class IX, often without having even basic reading and writing skills. Almost 50% of Class IX students fail and often drop out because they simply can't cope," Sharma says.
"Chunauti 2018 aims to address that huge backlog of learning. We will work with children from Class VI onwards, with a special focus on Class IX students. The work done by the fellows will contribute to its implementation."
Problem with no-detention policy
NDP was introduced as a clause under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. It mandated that no student can be failed before Class IX. The NDP has often been blamed for the deteriorating quality of students in government schools, as well as for the rising number of students failing in Class IX.
"In 2013-14, 44% of students of Class IX failed to pass, while 48.26% of students did not succeed during 2014-15. In 2015-16, 49.22% of students of Class IX failed to pass the examinations," Sisodia had told the press.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government ruling Delhi has been pretty vocal in its opposition to NDP.
The Delhi government has on an earlier occasion even proposed amendments to the RTE Act, in the form of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Delhi Amendment) Bill 2015, which sought the implementation of NDP only till Class III. But the Bill was returned by the Union Home Ministry, along with 13 other Bills passed by the Delhi Assembly, citing lack of adherence to procedure.