Govt to train private school teachers on how to deal with EWS students

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government will train the principals and teachers of primary section of city's private schools on how to treat students from poor sections of society, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said here on Wednesday. According to Right to Education (RTE) Act, 25 per cent for entry class admissions in private unaided non-minority schools are reserved for children from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.

Addressing media here, Sisodia said there were "social integration issues" for students from EWS category in private schools and training is being conducted to sensitise principals and teachers so that they will be aware of these problems. He said the decision was taken at a Delhi State Education Council meeting here on Wednesday after the government got complaints on this count.

Sisodia said that parents of students from EWS category are usually not as educated as parents of the rest of the students in private schools and therefore they were not able to help their children with studies like other parents.

In the Delhi State Education Council Meeting , another decision has been taken by the Delhi government that to appoint Education Beat Officers to find out-of-school children across the city and admit them in schools, Education Minister Sisodia said here. Sisodia said the government will also rank all private and government schools so that parents can make an informed decision while choosing schools.

The government will first do a door-to-door survey on total number of out-of-school children as currently there is no proper study on it, Sisodia said after the Delhi State Education Council meeting. He said the social workers in School Management Committees of each of 2,600 government schools in the city will be appointed as Education Beat Officers who will trace the children not attending schools and admit them in schools by talking to their parents and schools.

"After the data collection, community volunteers will be roped in as Education Beat Officers to identify such children in their respective areas and mobilise them and their families to enroll them in schools," Sisodia said.

The meeting also decided to rank schools in the national capital on several parameters including infrastructure, cleanliness and output, and extend the Delhi government's reading campaign 'Chaunauti' to primary classes of schools run by it and the civic bodies.