Delhi government to assess and grade over 5,000 city schools
The Delhi government is embarking on a first-of-its-kind exercise: it is going to assess and grade over 5,000 schools in the national capital. For this, it will examine their infrastructure and academic facilities, among others. The assessment will help parents make informed decisions about their child's schooling, Education Minister Manish Sisodia said. The results are expected to be out on Children's Day.
On what basis will they assess schools?
The Delhi government, along with the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), will assess schools on three criteria - safety, teaching-learning facilities, and community engagement (government/municipal schools) or social inclusion (private schools). The project will cover 1,100 government-run schools, 1,900 municipality-run schools, 1,700 government-recognized private schools and 900 municipality-recognized private schools. A special software is being developed for the project.
And how will grades be awarded?
For safety, the government will see if the school has conducted background-checks of its employees, or has adequate fire safety facilities. To assess teaching-learning, they will ask schools to submit details and then cross-check the information through inspection. For community engagement/social inclusion, government schools will be assessed on functioning of school management committees, and private schools on the basis of feedback from economically-weaker students.
So what does the timeline of the project look like?
The government plans to make the whole framework ready by the end of May. The evaluation process should begin in August and end in three months. They aim to announce the results on November 14, Children's Day. Results will be displayed publicly on a website.
Assessment will help parents as well as government
"As of now, parents have to rely on general perception while choosing a school. They go by the look of school building and perception of the school. But now we will give them credible information on every aspect," explained Anurag Kundu, DCPCR member. "It will also help the government in fixing responsibility in cases of shortcomings by schools and concerned departments," he added.
But it might have some drawbacks too
Shyama Chona, former principal of DPS, RK Puram, hailed the move, saying it will greatly help parents. "Many parents in government schools are not aware of standards but by this grading they will know of standards and can demand the same from schools," she said. However, some quarters said it might end up promoting some schools that will get better grades.
