NDMC to take teachers to task for poor education standards

Noticing a spike in failure rate of students, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to set 'minimum education levels' for its schools and will take teachers to task if pupils do not meet them.
The civic body's education department has taken on board teachers from various schools run by it and draft guidelines in this regard have been prepared.
"A panel of teachers identified the areas where students are lagging behind and a draft has been prepared. If the students fail to meet the set parameters, the teachers will be held responsible and pulled up for the failure," a senior NDMC official said.

"As part of the proposed guidelines, special focus will be on achieving minimum standards in three subjects-Mathematics, English and Hindi- as these are foundation courses," the official added.
There are 70 NDMC-run schools in the city. While 56 of them are NDMC palika schools, 11 are Navyug Schools. 24 schools are for primary students, 18 for nursery, 6 middle schools, 4 secondary and 18 are senior secondary schools.
The education department is also conducting an analysis of high failure rates which have been reported especially from classes 9 and 11.

"We want that the students get prepared to meet minimum education standards from primary classes itself as it will help them deal with pressure in higher classes. An analysis of the failure rates is being carried out and we will soon come up with comprehensive report on this," the official said.

While the teachers are also being encouraged to devote extra hours to work on each student's weaknesses, strong provisions are being made to tackle absenteeism.
"We will ensure strict implementation of rules regarding compulsory attendance as irregularity in attending classes also leads to poor performance. More extra curricular activities are being introduced to ensure all-round development of students," the official added.
The council had in June this year announced that infrastructure and facilities in its schools will soon be upgraded to global standards and various summer and winter vacations workshops will also be organised.
NDMC has allocated Rs 150.37 crore for education services in the current financial year, including for the setting up of technology-enabled classrooms in its five schools, a state-of-the-art technical institute for boys for job-oriented skill development on the lines of ITIs and establishment of library-cum-reading rooms in four areas.