Learning will soon become more fun for children in government-run schools of Delhi. The dull textbooks will be embellished with cartoons, and students will have access to computers.
Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said: "The government schools would soon be brought at par with private schools.
"We will extend the computer-aided learning programme to all schools from Class 6 upwards. Plans are also afoot to impart environment education and skill-based education."
To accommodate the growing number of students, the government aims to set up eight to 10 new schools every year. There are 1,100 government schools, 340 government-aided schools, 2,000 primary schools and 1,500 public schools in the national capital.
"This year there are 127,000 students in government schools, 12.62 percent more than the previous year," Lovely told IANS. "The dropout rate has also slid to 5.7 percent as against 19.7 percent in 2004-05.
"Nearly 6,000 new teachers will be appointed to ensure no school remains short staffed," he said.
He said that though pre-primary and primary education is mainly the responsibility of local bodies, Delhi government has converted 326 such schools into Sarvodaya Vidyalayas.
The government has also decided to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. "This would go a long way to inspire teachers," he said.
{{/usCountry}}The government has also decided to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. "This would go a long way to inspire teachers," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"The government schools fared well in the last two years and the credit goes to teachers. Even a social audit report has found that teachers are attending school regularly," Lovely said.
Citing the class 10 board examination results of Central Board of Secondary Education, the minister said as against a dismal pass rate of 32 percent in 1997, a record 59.73 percent students cleared their exam this year.