Govt plans to send teachers to Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard universities

The decision was announced by Delhi Finance minister Manish Sisodia who also heads the Education Department.

“Our goal of making government schools better than private schools does not end at improving infrastructure and recruitment of teachers. The core of the educational improvement process lies in building the capacity of teachers,” said Sisodia revealing his vision behind the project.

“We will also overhaul our training content and infrastructure of SCERT,” added Sisodia announcing an allocation of Rs 102 crore for the project. Besides training for teachers, Sisodia also emphasisd on extra-curricular activities for students particularly in the activities like theatre, music, creative writing and photography. A generous Rs 8 crore has been earmarked for extra-curricular activities of students in government schools.

Quoting former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the Education minister vowed to realise his vision of two certificates for students in Delhi government schools – one for academic study and another for technical skill. “We have already started vocational trainings in 205 schools of Delhi government for student of classes IX onwards. We will expand this programme throughout Delhi and Rs 152 crore is being allocated for the project,” he added.

The government also decided to open playgrounds of government schools for children staying around the schools. The government claimed that in the very first year of the projects 45,000 students were provided professional training and arrangements are being made with private companies to provide them jobs in the campus. The government aims to provide professional training to 50,000 students in the current session for which Rs 50 crore have been allocated. “We are developing world-class football and tennis ground courts in our 55 schools,” informed Sisodia. Recruitment of 5,500 teachers is almost in the final stage while 9,623 posts of teachers have been sanctioned for regularisation of guest teachers.

“In the next three years we will make our government schools at par with private schools in the city,” claimed Sisodia asserting that this promise he is making to himself. Besides, Rs 100 crore has been allocated for CCTV cameras in schools. “We have decided to make the teachers free from non-teaching activities and focus on teaching only. This will further improve education quality in schools,” said Sisodia. He also announced appointment of Estate Managers in each government schools who will be responsible for cleaning, water tanks, toilets, electricity and all the infrastructure-related issues.

“Estate Manager shall visit the schools half-an-hour before the schools opens and conduct a video recording of all the facilities and upload it on a mobile app,” added Sisodia. The recording shall be inspected by senior officers for future action.