Hope all Govt, pvt schools become part of Delhi Board of School Education in 4-5 years: Kejriwal
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced the setting up of the Delhi Board of School Education, as approved in a meeting held by the Delhi Cabinet today.
Kejriwal said the Delhi Board of School Education will conduct assessments throughout the year to develop holistic learning outcomes instead of once in a year assessment that focuses on rote learning.
He said the Delhi Board of School Education will empower students to stand on their own feet and prepare students to take responsibility for their country beyond all religion, caste, and class differences.
Around 20-25 schools will become a part of the Delhi Education Board in the 2021-22 academic session, after which the other schools will be looped in eventually in the next 4-5 years.
Delhi Education Board will not only conduct continuous assessments but will become a torchbearer for change in education, he added.
Kejriwal said: “Our students will progress towards global education. Delhi Education Board will function in close alignment with national and international boards. The Board will develop world-class education practices that will enable the shift in teaching-learning practices across Delhi. Through the Delhi Education Board, an age-old practice of rote learning will be replaced with application-based learning and assessment. The Board will ensure that each student’s talent is harnessed, and they apply what they learn.”
Kejriwal said: “In the present education system, we assess a student at the end of a year for 3 hours but in the New Education Board, we will assess students throughout the year to develop holistic learning outcomes. Today, the entire system of education focuses on rote learning – this has to change and an emphasis has to be placed on ‘understanding’ and ‘personality development’. The students would not be assessed once, at the end of the year. On the contrary, the assessment process would go on throughout the year.”
Kejriwal said: “This international level board is being created for which aid would be sought from various international organizations as well. International practices and teaching methods have been analysed, based on which we would adopt similar practices and methodology in the Delhi schools under DBSE.
“High-end techniques would be used to impart education, and for the assessment process as well. The interest, need and specialization of each student would be taken into account by the education system to provide insights on what courses they should opt for concerning their career. This is in sharp contrast to the model of rote learning.”
Kejriwal said: “There are approximately 1000 government and 1700 private schools in Delhi. Most of them are affiliated with the CBSE board. All these schools will not become a part of the new board all at once. 20-25 government schools shall be included in the 2021-2022 session. These schools are being chosen based on the suggestions from students, their teachers, and parents. In the next 4-5 years, we hope to see all government and private schools being affiliated with the Delhi Education Board.”
Kejriwal also shared that Delhi Board’s governance and coordination will be overseen by the established governing body under the chairpersonship of the Education Minister. “This body shall include education officials, experts from higher education, principals from government and private schools, teachers and parents as well as educationists from other spheres. The Board’s everyday activities shall be coordinated by the executive body which will be a professional body. This will be headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with long-term experience in education, assessments, and school administration. In addition to this, experts with vast knowledge in evaluation from all over India and around the world shall be invited.”
During the press conference, Kejriwal said: “Delhi education Board will be very different from the education boards of other states. It has not been the Delhi government’s intention to seek applauds by establishing this board. Education has been the priority for this government with 25% of the budget being spent on education. Through this, the government schools in Delhi have become world-class.”
Kejriwal further noted: “The entire country has witnessed the revolutionary changes brought about by the Delhi government in the field of education in the past 6 years. The journey began with the allocation of 25% funds from the budget towards the field of education each year, due to which the government schools came to be equipped with high-quality buildings, labs, classrooms, auditoriums, swimming pools, sanitation facilities, security, toilets, new blackboards, and desks.
“The private schools in Delhi had good infrastructure due to which students studying in government schools suffered from an inferiority complex. However, this allocation of funds transformed the infrastructural facilities available in the government schools of Delhi. The second major transformative role played by the government was to provide large-scale training to teachers and principals of these government schools, for which they were sent to countries like Singapore, Finland, America, Canada, Cambridge; in addition to IIM Lucknow and IIM Ahemdabad. The Delhi students represented our country in chemistry, physics, and math Olympiad abroad; for which they won various awards too. This instilled a strong sense of self-confidence in both- the teachers as well as students.”
“The third major transformation that took place was that Principals were empowered. Till now, there was huge interference by the Directorate of Education of the Delhi Government in each school, due to which permission had to be sought even for minute things like buying / repairing infrastructure. Multiple posts for teachers remained vacant for years.
“But now, more power has been granted to the principal, i.e. if the government is unable to appoint new teachers, the principal should do so, for a single session, in order to prevent any sort of loss for the students. Fourthly, it had been claimed in the past that students of government schools were unable to read even the basic school textbooks or solve rudimentary math problems. In light of this, Mission Chunauti and Mission Buniyaad were brought about.
“The Happiness Curriculum was also introduced, under which children were taught basic practices of meditation; and ways to build and improve interpersonal relations with family, teachers, and friends. This ensured that their emotional needs were fulfilled. Similarly, an Entrepreneurship curriculum was also introduced. It was in light of the above mentioned that the results of students in Delhi government school have improved significantly- i.e. it is now at 98%. This is even higher than what is achieved by students in the private schools,” added Kejriwal.
Kejriwal shared the joy of establishing the Delhi Education Board. “I am very happy and excited to see Delhi Education Board’s initiatives towards quality education to all. Before joining politics, when I worked with various NGOs, I always felt that our system of education lags and it is only through its improvement that we would be able to solve the plethora of issues that our country faces.
“Our 6-year journey has been quite productive and I believe that the beginning of this next phase would transform the education system at present. Delhi Education Board will bring radical changes, making India a progressive and developed nation. Delhi Education Board will prepare students to take responsibility for their country, focus on making students good human beings beyond all religion, caste, and class differences, and enable students to emerge as job givers & not job seekers.”
