New Delhi: In what could be a revolutionary step for government schools in Delhi, the Delhi government is working on a policy to ensure a permanent psychologist in government schools to counsel children and adolescents and create mental health awareness among them and their families so that their emotional well-being can be looked after as well.
According to an official working closely on the policy, the Health and Education Departments of the Delhi government are working on rolling out the policy together by sometime later this year.
Currently, Delhi government schools have permanent career counsellors who at times look into the emotional well-being of children with no set sessions on it, an official from the Education Department said. "Some schools do not have permanent counsellors and guest counsellors visit the school frequently," the official said.
HoS of Rajkiya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Dr LK Dubey said, "I welcome the move by the Delhi government. This was much needed given the background of the children who come to the government schools. A lot of them have emotional and family problems and seeking private counsellors is too expensive for them. Emotional health is as important as physical health."
There are two projects functioning in the school — Smile project which focuses on low achievers of the class and Career Guidance and Career Counselling, which guides children on the career path — but specifically, classes on emotional health have been left out.
The Smile Project through various tests identifies the weaknesses of children and tries to build them up which has been going on since 2018 for classes class 6-8. "Children who have trouble reading sentences in this age group are the main focus," said Jitendra Kumar Gupta a counsellor at Rajkiya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya School in the West Vinod Nagar area.
In the Career guidance and career counselling classes, tests are conducted to assess the aptitude, personality and interests of the child.
Meanwhile, the Niti Aayog on Wednesday lauded the landmark transformation of the government school system in Delhi, as government-aided schools helped the Capital achieve the highest National Achievement Survey (NAS) score.
According to 'India Innovation Index 2020', prepared by Niti Aayog, among all pillars under Human Capital, the states have performed the best on NAS scores (Class X), wherein the average NAS score achieved by all states is
35.66.
"Given Delhi's high income levels as well as the landmark transformation of the government school system, the national capital reported the highest NAS score (44.73)," it said.