Delhi govt working to reduce Covid-induced learning gap: Sisodia

New Delhi: Delhi government's Mission Buniyaad has played a vital role in bridging the COVID-induced learning gap among students, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

One of the key initiatives being implemented in this direction is Mission Buniyaad across all the Delhi government schools. It aims to bridge the learning gap and improve reading, writing and basic mathematical abilities of children from Classes III to IX.

In order to review the status of Mission Buniyaad, the minister visited SKV district centre Vikaspuri and Government Girls Senior Secondary School Tilak Nagar on Monday.

"Last two years with Covid were tough for students and has widened the learning gap. We do not want a generation to move ahead with this learning gap. To ensure the same, our teachers are diligently working for the past two months with students on improving skills of reading, writing and basic mathematics in Mission Buniyaad classes," Sisodia said.

He said that the government's primary objective is to help children strengthen their foundational skills, instead of getting them burdened by the syllabus.

"Along with this, after COVID we have also increased the coverage of Mission Buniyaad till Class IX to guide the students better. Currently, about 10 lakh students are part of this mission and attendance has always been recorded over 65 percent every day," he said. The Deputy CM said that the ongoing phase of Mission Buniyaad classes has played an important role in bridging the learning gap and it will continue till June 15. It will resume when the schools reopen in July.

"Parents have also responded positively to this and are sending their children to schools for Mission Buniyaad classes, instead of going on vacation to their native places," added the Deputy Chief Minister.

'Mission Buniyaad' is being implemented in all the schools under the Directorate of Education (DoE) daily.

The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has updated learning material and teacher manuals to be followed under this mission which includes a maths workbook, a book of stories to improve reading-listening-speaking and writing skills for students.

Teachers were trained regularly by SCERT to implement this mission better.