Municipal schools to teach civic sense

The MCD has now claimed if the people of Delhi have better civic sense, most of MCD’s programmes and project would be implemented in a much more effective manner, reports HT Correspondent.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has found yet another excuse for their projects and schemes not being implemented in the city.

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The civic body has now claimed if the people of Delhi have better civic sense, most of MCD’s programmes and project would be implemented in a much more effective manner.

To inculcate this, the MCD is planning to introduce a new subject in its primary schools to be taught from the next year. The course material of this new subject, to be called Natural Environment Conservation, would be prepared after consultation with experts.

“The smoking ban has been introduced recently but penalising people is not the solution. If children are taught civic sense and the ills of smoking, they will grow up to be responsible citizens and more sensitive to environment. They will also follow rules and laws better,” said Vijendra Gupta, chairman of the standing committee of the MCD. Gupta further said similar subjects are also taught in western countries to create awareness.

The civic body is also planning to talk to private schools in the city to introduce a similar subject. “If children studying in MCD primary schools are taught the essential contents of natural environment preservation, then within a short time we will get a big force to help the civic body in fighting problems owing to increase in population, rapid urbanisation and environment degradation,” added Gupta.

There are nearly 10 lakh students studying in 2,000 municipal schools. The civic body is planning to write to the Delhi government so the subject is also introduced in their schools. A proposal in this regard was tabled in the standing committee meeting held on Monday and was cleared by the members.

Depending on the success of this proposal, the MCD will recommend the subject to be taught till Class XII. The MCD would be taking up this issue with the Lieutenant governor of Delhi too.