In a move to improve education quality and to check drop-out of students in Government-run schools, the Delhi Government has chalked out a comprehensive plan ‘Chunauti 2018’ in the national Capital.

The Government is going to introduce a new plan for enhancing learning levels of students from Class VI to IX with special focus on the weakest students. For all students from Classes VI to IX, the Government has decided to regroup all classes based on a Base line assessment, which will be conducted on July 15 to assess the learning levels of weak students and their requirements.

Under the plan students will be mapped and the weakest students given “special focus” to enhance learning levels from Class VI to IX.

According to data available with the Government, 1.31 lakh students failed in Class IX last year in Delhi. Of these, 50,000 failed twice in Class IX and 60 per cent students who had failed in Class VIII were promoted to Class IX under no detention policy of Right To Education Act.

Announcing “Chunauti 2018” that would be started from July 15, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the idea behind it is that by the year 2018, all students enrolled in Class IX in the academic year 2016-2017, regardless of their learning levels at this point, will be trained and mentored to successfully to appear for Class X examinations in 2018 and no child will be left behind.

“The Government intends for the weakest students to receive special attention from the best teachers, so as to bring them to the level of the rest of the class. The grouping of students based on their learning level is solely for the purpose of enabling the teachers to address the learning needs of different sets of children in a more systematic and effective manner,” Sisodia said.

“Heads of schools will map all children who have not cleared the Class IX exam in 2016, and organise one to one sessions between teachers and parents, so that the students can be encouraged to come to school regularly and dissuade them from dropping out. They will hold a Special PTA meeting within the month of July in which parents would be counselled by Heads of Schools and respective teachers. A Special School Management Committee (SMC) Meeting will also be called the week before the Special PTA meeting during which the Heads of Schools will explain the entire concept of Chunauti 2018 to the members of the SMC in order to ensure their cooperation for the implementation of this plan,” he said.

“Students who failed twice or thrice usually move towards distance learning education, but they don’t get quality education. We will ask distance learning students to attend regular classes from Monday to Saturday with regular students,” Sisodia said.