To improve the quality of education in civic-run schools, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has tied up with the Quality Council of India (QCI) to conduct quality audits of its schools starting this year.
The initiative was inaugurated by Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray at Veravali municipal school in Andheri on Tuesday.
A total of 30 schools have been selected for the pilot audit, which will be conducted for 2019-20.
Schools will be evaluated on a 50-point index, which will include various parameters that will cover the teaching-learning process. “We have tried to pick schools on the basis of their student strength and have ensured that there is at least one school from each ward in the pilot,” said Mahesh Palkar, education officer, BMC.
In the first phase, they will be tested on three core parameters — governance; education and support processes; and performance measurement and improvement. The second phase would involve an assessment of students between Class 5 and 8 to determine their performance on key learning outcomes.
“We are hoping to get some insights into what areas need improvement and have the right intervention in those parameters. While the pilot is only for 30 schools, its findings would help us get an overall picture of all the schools,” added Palkar. The civic body had set aside ₹20 lakh in its education budget for the current year for the initiative. “The initiative would help transform BMC schools as the audit will be third-party and would help create a robust monitoring system,” said Sainath Durge, member of BMC education committee.
{{/usCountry}}“We are hoping to get some insights into what areas need improvement and have the right intervention in those parameters. While the pilot is only for 30 schools, its findings would help us get an overall picture of all the schools,” added Palkar. The civic body had set aside ₹20 lakh in its education budget for the current year for the initiative. “The initiative would help transform BMC schools as the audit will be third-party and would help create a robust monitoring system,” said Sainath Durge, member of BMC education committee.
{{/usCountry}}Principals said while it is a great move to identify what ails civic schools, the onus should not rest only with the school. “For instance, if they find that the children are weak in some areas of study, there might be various reasons for it from shortage of teachers to lack of training, which the civic body needs to address,” said a principal on the condition of anonymity.