In order to create a strong base in very initial studies, Delhi Government has joined hand with Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and other local bodies to design and execute — “Mission Buniyad” programme. Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia announced the programme on Monday for improving learning levels of children studying in Delhi Government schools as well as municipal schools.
According to the Education Minister this programme is designed on the lines of Government’s previous scheme “Chunauti”after two rounds of meetings with MCDs, the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC ).
Announcing the programme, Sisodia said, “The National Achievement Survey (NAS) has shown that the entire country, including Delhi, has a crisis of learning in our schools.”
“The NAS survey demonstrates that close to half of all children in our schools are not able to read their grade level textbooks, adding,” In the secondary schools run by the Delhi Government, various programs we initiated have improved reading ability by about 20 per cent, “ However, children in primary schools that are under the MCDs are not able to read and thereafter when they study in secondary schools they find it difficult to cope up with the advanced levels,” he added.
While explaining about the new scheme, Sisodia explained that the municipal bodies of Delhi that run primary schools in the city will raise a cadre of teachers who will drive the programme, in a manner similar to the Mentor Teacher Programme run in Delhi Government schools.
“One teacher will take care of five schools and will train teachers of these five schools on enhancing readability of children. The entire programme will run from Classes 3 to 5 in MCD schools and in Classes 6 to 8 in Delhi Government schools. All officials of the Education Department will run the campaign in mission mode for three months from April to June, 2018,” he said.
“The final shape to the plan was given after several meetings in the Education Department and with the MCDs,” he said. He also said in making the scheme successful, Government would need the parents' support. “I appeal to them to keep an eye on the performance of their kids,” he said.
If the parents found their children's performance poor, they should make extra efforts, sacrifice the May-June vacations and send them for extra classes to “strengthen their foundation”, the Minister.