With an education budget of Rs.10,690 crore in fiscal 2016-17, the highest ever allocated by any government of Delhi state which includes the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government — elected to power in February 2015 with a sweeping majority — raised hopes of radical changes in Delhi’s 924 government schools. Unfortunately, the AAP government has conspicuously failed to bring about the promised change in the state’s public education system. On the contrary, the Delhi high court has admitted a PIL (public interest litigation) writ against an education programme of the state government’s Directorate of Education titled Chunauti (‘Challenge’) 2018. Chunauti 2018 was launched on June 29 to test and support students of classes VI-IX to improve the rock-bottom pass percentage of government school children, half of whom fail the school-leaving class X exam of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). “The idea behind Chunauti 2018 is that by the year 2018, all students enrolled in class IX in the academic year 2016-2017, regardless of their learning levels at this point, will be trained and mentored to successfully appear for class X examinations in 2018. No child will be left behind,” said Manish Sisodia, state minister for education and deputy chief minister of Delhi, speaking on the occasion. However, the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Civil Society (estb.1997), which is a champion of education causes and school choice in particular, has filed a writ petition (Centre for Civil Society vs. Directorate of Education and Ors (W.P.(c) 7949/2016) questioning why the Chunauti 2018 programme is limited to children in classes VI-IX and ignores students in the state government’s primary schools in which learning outcomes are abysmal and the dropouts percentage is 25-30 percent. Admitting the petition, a two-judge bench of the Delhi high court has issued notices to the three Delhi municipal corporations (north, south and east) to respond by November 28. “Assessments only for middle classes while leaving out primary classes is against the letter and spirit of the Act (i.e, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009), since as per the Act, government must ensure learning outcomes for all children up to class VIII in government schools,” says the CCS petition which has prayed for the inclusion of primary classes of all state and local government schools in the Chunauti 2018 programme. “The ‘no detention’ provision in the RTE Act (s.16) has been misconstrued by government school managements and teachers as no testing or assessment. Teachers in government schools have completely ignored assessment of the learning outcomes of class I-VI children resulting in increase in failures in class IX with students not even attaining basic learning levels,” says Amit Chandra, associate director (policy advisory) of CCS. The consequence of this blindspot of government school managements and teachers is highlighted by the Chunauti 2018 programme itself. An assessment by the education ministry indicates that 74 percent of class VI children cannot read and grasp simple paragraphs in Hindi textbooks. Likewise an Urban Wards…
