Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday launched ‘Delhi virtual school’ in the national capital, calling it first such school in the country. Soon after his launch, the BJP leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that Uttarakhand was first state to launch a virtual school in Dehradun in 2020 which offers education from kindergarten to grade 12.
The National Progressive Schools' Conference (NPSC), a body of over 120 private schools in Delhi, said that virtual schools will "hand over school education to coaching centres on a platter".Earlier, addressing a virtual press conference, Kejriwal said that the Delhi Government has started virtual classrooms for students, particularly girls.
who are unable to attend school. The application process for the virtual school began on Wednesday.
The school is for classes 9-12. “The admission to the schooling platform will be open for students across India who are aged between 13 and 18 and they will also be prepared by experts for entrance exams like NEET, CUET and JEE along with skill-based training,” he said."The virtual school will be affiliated to Delhi Board of School Education Board. Any student aged between 13 and 18 years who has cleared class 8 from any recognised school can apply for admission to DMVS," he said. Students can apply on the portal DMVS.Ac.In, he said.
"There are many children who cannot go to school since there are issues like the school being far away or other obstacles. Many parents do not get their daughters educated since they don't want to send them out.
"We are starting this virtual school to ensure they get educated. This school is inspired by virtual classes that had been necessitated due to the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.
Calling it a “revolutionary step in the education system of Delhi”, Kejriwal explained that under the “virtual school” model, students can attend online classes and learn. “The recordings of the class would also be uploaded to a website, in case a student misses class due to any reason,” he added.
The classes will be online and recorded lectures will also be uploaded online, Kejriwal said, adding the school is affiliated to the Delhi Board of School Education. Criticising the Kejriwal for calling it the first school in the country, Bidhuri said that Kejriwal should check his fact correctly before making it public. The BJP government in Uttarakhand was the first to launch ‘virtual school’ in Dehradun in 2020.
The NPSC said that virtual schools will "hand over school education to coaching centres on a platter". "A school is not a place to achieve only cognitive competency. It is a happy space where socio-emotional well-being is also taken care of. Children acquire life skills like collaboration, empathy, problem-solving and media literacy which are important to succeed in life.
According to Pallavi Upadhyaya, Principal of Delhi Public School (DPS), Rajnagar Extension, the flipside is that the attention span of students in an online class is shorter than in offline classes.
Anshu Mital, Principal of MRG School, Rohini, said the virtual school will be helpful for students who cannot get enrolled in traditional schools and attend physical classes due to lack of time, familial responsibilities, long-distance travelling or any other hindrance.
Delhi Model Virtual School (DMVS) Functions
· DMSV will be affiliated to the Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE).
· DBSE mark sheet and certificate are equivalent to that of other boards.
· No fees will be charged from students
· Batch strength will depend on student registration.
· Classes will be through SchoolNet and Google.
· There will be an attendance tracking system in-built in the online platform.
· Students can opt for topic or concept-wise assessment.
· There will be two term-end exams for which students will have to physically come to Delhi.
· The practicals for required subjects will be conducted through virtual lab simulations.
· The medium of instruction will be both English and Hindi.