Delhi Govt Schools Fared Better in Class 12 Board than Pvt Ones. Is It Time for Other States to Introspect?

Schools under the Delhi Government beat the national capital's private schools with better results in the Class 12 board examinations this year.

With 98 per cent students having passed, they set an an example for other states on how to run a robust education system.

Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia appreciated this year’s remarkable performance - “Over the past 5 years, we at #DelhiGovtSchools have been competing with ourselves to break our own record each time. This year is no exception!”

One of the factors which could have played a big hand in this year's success is the significant improvement in the expenditure of education over the past five years; which is about 25 per cent of the Delhi government’s total expenditure. This is the highest figure in the country, and Rajasthan comes second but not close, having allotted 15 per cent of their total budget to education this year.

Delhi schools doubled the number of classrooms from 17,000 to 37,000. While states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh continue to debate on the status of Kendriya Vidyalayas and student fee structure, Delhi put a keen focus on building world-class infrastructure, including swimming pools to auditoriums and facilitated digital education.

“It is impractical to not charge fees from the students. Uttar Pradesh has more than 1.69 lakh government schools and six lakh private schools, which will close down due to lack of finances,” Satish Dwivedi, Basic Education Minister from UP, had said.

However, even if states are unable to spend on infrastructure, there are other measures to remedy and better the education system. Direct involvement through impromptu tours of schools, appointment of expert advisors who can assess good educational models for implementation are some of the ways to do this.

Regular parent-teacher meetings also help, whereas ex-army personnel can be put in-charge of the administration so that principals can focus on solely academics.

The state's result shows that government schools are capable of being as prestigious as government colleges. Delhi's education policy is a breath of fresh air in the degrading stature of education around the country. It has proved that focusing on young minds and providing them with the right tools of knowledge is the only way we can, as a nation, secure our future.