No books for NrDMC school kids Sisodia says will intervene
New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said that he would intervene in the matter of over 700 schools run by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation not providing school books to students even after almost half the academic session having lapsed.
While the education minister was on his visit to the Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Mori Gate on Monday, Sisodia answered in the affirmative to a question from Millennium Post about whether he would intervene in the matter about which AAP leader Durgesh Pathak had written to him.
He said, "I will intervene in the matter. If BJP cannot run the MCD then they should hand it over education and MCD to us." The Deputy CM added that his government is somehow finding a way to keep schools running and providing books to its students but questioned why the MCDs are unable to do the same.
Moreover, Sisodia also questioned the way civic body-run schools maintain student data, saying that the brunt of it comes to the Delhi government schools when students come in after completing primary education in MCD-run schools. He said that almost 15 per cent students in Delhi government schools are untraceable since the lockdown began.
"Almost 85 per cent students have been roped in the online or semi online classes but the remaining 15 per cent are yet to reconnect in the ongoing classes. This is common among all the schools. This has been a recurrent problem in all the Delhi Government schools when students join class 6 after completing primary education in the MCD-run schools."
When asked why this happened, Sisodia said civic body-run schools have "poor data". He said, "In some MCD schools we have seen there is only one contact number for all the students of the school which shows irresponsibility on the part of authorities. They are too casual, they don't update the data when students leave. Also, sometimes parents do not update their address or contact details once they shift houses."
The education minister added that the Delhi government has been trying to reach these students but it is increasingly difficult in the absence of accurate data. "We are doing what we can, given the situation. We ask around in the neighbourhood about the whereabouts of a concerned child and if they have shifted in the vicinity we connect them to online or semi online classes but those who have got to a different area all together it is difficult to reconnect with them," he said.
