Delhi govt signs MoU with IIM-A for training school principals

Delhi government has signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) to provide specialised training to its Heads of Schools of the 1,024 schools run by the Directorate of Education.

Under the MoU, IIM-A will administer an intensive course for all principals on school leadership during the course of next 18 months, a Delhi government release said.

After a tie-up with the University of Cambridge, UK, and the National Institute of Education, Singapore, this is another collaboration with premier institutions from around the world for upgrading Delhi's government school ecosystem, the release said.

Hailing the step, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said: "The Heads of Schools functioning in Directorate of Education schools have a rich wealth of experience in managing schools. Their capacities to run an academic institute should be supplemented by professional training in leadership, especially in the field of school education.

"The government is serious about building skills and capacities of all principals, teachers working in our schools, and I am confident this step will go a long way towards improving the way individual school managements function."

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government said the transformation of Delhi's government schools has been its top priority and it "believes that investing in education is investing in the future of the country. Several steps are being taken to improve the quality of schools in terms of infrastructure, teaching-learning methodology, narrowing the learning deficits, etc".

"Principals are the pillars of every school and for a school to do well, it is important to strengthen school leaders. The IIM-A's Right to Education Resource Centre will conduct the sessions with Delhi Government school principals over a period of one and a half years," a release said.