Citing report, Delhi’s child rights body issues notice to MCD over ‘poor performance’ of primary schools

Seeking an explanation within two weeks for the “poor” performance of primary schools, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) on Monday issued a notice to the municipal corporation in the city.

The commission also said an inquiry has been ordered into the “poor quality of education” in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools.

In a notice of inquiry, the DCPCR, the statutory watchdog of the Delhi government in matters of child rights, cited the National Achievement Survey (NAS) Report, 2021, for Class 3 to highlight the quality of teaching and learning in the city’s municipal schools.

The responsibility for imparting primary education lies with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The unified MCD is currently functioning under the BJP-led Centre.

“The NAS Class-3 results paint a dismal picture of teaching and learning in municipal schools, which rank Delhi amongst the lowest five performing states in India,” the notice read.

“In fact, the Class-3 results of Municipal Corporation of Delhi are below the national average in all three subjects: Language, Maths, and Environmental Studies. The average state score for Class 3 in language is merely 52 per cent while the national average is 62 per cent,” it added.

The DCPCR has asked the MCD to file an explanation within two weeks.

“The commission issues notice to Municipal Corporation of Delhi seeking an explanation for the poor performance” the notice read.

Taking to Twitter, DCPCR Chairperson Anurag Kundu said an inquiry has been ordered to look into the “poor quality of education” in the MCD schools.

“DCPCR has ordered an inquiry regarding the absolutely poor quality of education in MCD schools. The performance of the MCD schools has been ranked amongst the bottom five in the whole of India,” Kundu tweeted.

Legislators of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), including the party’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj, live-streamed their visit to the MCD schools on social media platforms on Saturday, highlighting the “poor condition” of the buildings, classrooms, toilets and campuses, and slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for raising questions on the Delhi government’s expenditure on the construction of its schools.

The MCD denied that the condition in its schools is “poorer than those run by the city government” after the AAP MLAs highlighted their “poor condition” on social media.

The civic body has said the “intrusion by a group of 30-40 people” in the schools was “uncalled for” and the children had to “suffer a rude break to the harmonious rhythm of their learning process”.

The MCD, in a statement, said the learning outcome for Class 3 for Delhi includes all categories of schools, including private recognised, government-aided, central government-run, state government-run and MCD schools.

“It is difficult to fathom as to how MCD schools can be pointed out for the overall performance of class 3 learning outcome for language when it has nearly 28 per cent of the total share of students of Delhi State,” the statement said.

Among the schools taken for survey under the NAS, more than 70 per cent are the ones which are “other than MCD schools,” the civic body claimed, adding this fact “seems to have been overlooked by the DCPCR”.

The corporation, nonetheless, will respond to the notice of the commission soon, it added.

(With PTI inputs)

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