Capital’s govt education in good health, EWS admissions lagging

According to the report, the government mapped 36 schemes in the education sector that were to be assessed on 60 indicators.

The Delhi government has fared well in the education sector this past fiscal, showed the outcome budget 2021-22, released by the government on Friday, even though a number of parameters and targets pertaining to EWS (economically weaker sections) admission and distribution of cash subsidy remained unmet.

The government failed to meet the desired target in admitting EWS students to private schools, in accordance with the Right to Education Act (RTE). (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

According to the report, the government mapped 36 schemes in the education sector that were to be assessed on 60 indicators. Of the 60 indicators, 43 are “on track”, which amounts to nearly 72% progress, whereas 17 indicators (about 28%) were “off track”.

The government failed to meet the desired target in admitting EWS students to private schools, in accordance with the Right to Education Act (RTE). A total of 25,327 students got admitted to private schools in 2020-21, as against the target of 38,684, the report said.

Distribution of cash to students of government and government-aided schools for the purchase of textbooks and uniforms took a hit last year, the outcome budget said. The target for 2021-22 was to provide subsidies to all students through direct benefit transfer. However, only 49% government school students received the uniform subsidy by September 30, 2021. In government-aided schools, only 42% received the uniform subsidy as on September 30, against a target of 100%, the outcome budget said.

As far as the free supply of textbooks in government schools is concerned, 100% students in classes 1-8 received free textbooks by May 31, 2021. In classes 9-12, 78% government school students received cash for textbooks by September 30.

The targets remained “unmet” for government-aided schools, however. Only 51% students in classes 1-8 in these schools cash subsidy for textbooks by May 31, 2021, whereas 45% students in classes 9-12 received the cash for textbooks by September 30.

In the matter of infrastructure development, 13,181 new classrooms were made functional in Delhi government schools till December 2021, against a target of 20,843 classrooms. In its remarks, the directorate of education said work on the remaining classrooms is progressing and is likely to be complete by March 2022.

In 2021-22, the government set up 20 schools of specialised excellence (SoSE) across the domains of STEM, humanities, performing and visual arts, and high end 21st Century skills with an intake of 2,300 students in total.

The city currently has 31 SoSEs.

The government also initiated the Delhi Board School Education (DBSE) as earlier proposed and 30 schools have been affiliated with the new state board. In higher education, the government set up the Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University with 6,300 students studying in 15 campuses and the Delhi Teachers University.

On the entrepreneurship front, the government introduced the business blasters programme last year in government schools, with an aim to encourage the entrepreneurship mindset among students. Under this program, 300,000 students were provided with a seed money of ₹2000 each for developing an idea, which led to the generation of 51,000 or more new business ideas.

In 2021-22, the enrolment in Delhi government schools also reached a new high. The number of students in government schools increased from 1.5 million to nearly 1.8 million. The share of enrolment at the primary and middle level in private schools came down from 46.72% (in 2019-20) to 43.91% in 2020-21.

On the same pattern, the share of enrolment in secondary and senior secondary level also declined from 31.90% (in 2019-20) to 29.94% in 2020-21. The fall in enrolment in primary schools is likely due to deferred admissions by parents amid the pandemic.