Now, free education till class 12 in Delhi govt schools: Sisodia
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government decided to make the government school education fully free, earlier till class 8 it was free but for 9th to 12th there was a nominal fee. Education Minister Manish Sisodia directed the education department to make it free till class 12. "Education in all govt schools would be 100 percent free up to class 12th. Though there was no fee up to class 8th still a nominal fee was being charged from class 9th onward. Today it was decided to scrap this fees also," he tweeted.
"Education in Delhi government schools are free till class 8. Students of classes 9 to 12 pay a fee of Rs 20 per month. Sisodia, who chaired a meeting of the city's education department, directed the Education Secretary to submit a proposal to scrap the school fee," said an official.
Meanwhile, in a situation where Delhi government schools are facing a shortage of teachers, education minister Manish Sisodia has announced the recruitment of 9,000 guest teachers to overcome the challenge. Sisodia said that the new guest teachers will join the schools by August 14 and ensure that all schools have teachers as per their requirement.
"There is problem of teacher shortage in many schools. All schools will have teachers by August 14. Alumni Association of govt school students will be launched soon. The project is almost ready after pilot testing. Govt wants to invite alumni to work for uplifting of schools," he tweeted.
He also wrote,"It was also decided on Thursday that- from next session, no private school will be allowed to charge any fee if they do not submit their fee plan and take approval of the government by the due date as per Section 17(3) of DSE Act 1973."
During the meeting, Sisodia, along with PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, reviewed the progress of infrastructural work in Delhi government schools. Three more new schools would be ready by September and the PWD will hand it over to the Directorate of Education on completion, the PWD officials said during the meeting. "Three more new govt schools would be ready by September. On the ground, construction of four new schools and 12,700 classrooms will start by mid October. Nearly 70 new school buildings are in pipeline," he tweeted.
Recently an RTI showed that nearly 600 of Delhi's government schools are running headless –some of them for the past six years –according to an RTI reply, and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) blamed the central government's neglectful attitude for this "serious issue". According to the information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, there are 918 posts of principals in 1,024 Delhi government schools. Some 106 schools don't have such posts. Out of 918 posts of principals, 595 are lying vacant, the reply revealed.
