Education

Overview of School Education in Delhi

Soumya Gupta

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. -B. F. Skinner In order to forget, we must learn things. In order to learn, we must be taught. In order to be taught, we must go to school. But what happens when we do not learn much at school?

Literacy, as defined in Census operations, is the ability to read and write with understanding in any language. A person who can merely read but cannot write is not classified as literate. Any formal education or minimum educational standard is not necessary to be considered literate. - Census Report

The state shall endeavour to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of this constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years. Constitution of India, Directive Principles of State Policy, Article 45. Whenever a teacher absconds from a classroom, or a parent withdraws a child form school on flimsy grounds, or an employer exploits a child labourer, the fundamental right to education stands violated. - The Probe Team. 1999. Public Report on Basic Education in India, 21. Oxford. Oxford University Press

Within these parameters, the government is making all efforts to honour the declarations made for achieving the goal of Education For Alive (EFA) in the Jomtien Global Conference on Basic Education in 1990.1 Delhi has a population of 13.78 million. The total number of literate people (above 6 years of age) in the city are 9.7 million. In 2001, the literacy rate for India as a whole was 65.38% for population aged 7 and above. At an all-India level, the literacy rate for males and females is 75.8% and 54.2% respectively (data for 2001). Also, gap in Male-Female literacy rates came down from 24.84% (in 1991) to 21.70% (in 2001). If we compare Delhi to this, it fares decently with a literacy rate of 81.82% and the male and female literacy rates of 87.4% and 75% respectively. The gap between male and female literacy rates also has come down from 15.02% (in 1991) to 12.37% in 2001. During this decade (1991-2001), male and female literacy rates have changed by 5.36% and 8.01% respectively. But the picture is not as rosy as it looks.2

In 1990, International Literacy Year, some 1500 delegates from 155 countries as well as representatives from some 150 organisations agreed at the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien , Thailand (5-9 March 1990) to universalise adequate basic education before the end of the decade. The participants in the Conference adopted the World Declaration on Education for All and agreed upon a Framework of Action: Meeting Basic Learning needs .
2

Source Economic Survey of Delhi, 2001-2002

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There are in total 5,442 schools in Delhi.3 The enrolment figures amount to 1.7 million (17.5% of the population). The gross dropout rate is 69.06%. This does not leave much to be said about the levels of retention in schools across the capital city.4 In absolute numbers there are 1.5 million children who are dropouts or have never gone to school. Eighty percent of the class 5 pass outs from MCD schools do not know how to read and write their names. Only 14% of the students who enter a govt. school in class 1 make it to class 10 and just 4% manage to pass class 10. In Delhi, no detention policy is operative at the primary stage. This implies that an automatic policy is followed, that is to say that the students are simply promoted to the next class on the basis of satisfactory attendance. Despite this, the dropout rate for Delhi continues to be high. It is estimated that 25-30% of the children dropout between classes 1 and 5. Any attempt to map the school level education system in Delhi is a daunting task. The data at hand is vast and complicated and the sources varied. The Directorate of Education itself is not clear about the most basic information: the number of schools it runs in Delhi. The number of schools as projected by them on their website is different from the one in their handbook. Data in the different sets of tables within the Selected Educational Statistics (SES) published by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) are contradictory. The Economic Survey of Delhi provides one with yet another set of conflicting figures. It is with this scenario existing as a backdrop that the Directorate of Education is trying to provide education to the children of Delhi. Two major goals of the tenth five-year plan are free and compulsory elementary education and eradication of illiteracy The Directorate of Education provides educational facilities in the following stages: Pre-primary Primary Middle/ upper-primary Higher/ secondary Senior secondary In Delhi, pre-primary and primary education are the responsibility of the local bodies namely the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB). Middle, Secondary and Senior Secondary education are primarily looked after by Directorate of Education, Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. However, the Directorate of Education has also introduced primary classes in some existing secondary/senior secondary schools and converted them into composite schools. The Government of Delhi has converted 326 of its schools into composite schools now known as Sarvodaya Vidyalayas with classes from 1 to 12. The NDMC, though mainly concerned with primary education, is also running a selected number of middle, secondary and senior secondary schools in its areas. Apart from these a number of private organisations are also engaged in imparting education at all levels of schooling. These organisations are given grant-in-aid by Government of Delhi to meet the expenditure on education.5 Besides these, recognised unaided schools are also being run in Delhi by registered trusts and societies. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has control over land use in Delhi. The respective local bodies have to purchase land from the DDA for construction of schools in Delhi.
3

According to the 2002-2003 Annual Report of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the total number of recognised schools in Delhi is 4,955 Note: at an all India level, the drop out rate in primary classes is 40.7% and in upper primary classes is 53.7% as of 2000-2001. Grant-in-aid is of two kinds: the first case is when the grant is given on a regular basis to educational institutions which are recognised by the administration. Such grant-in-aid is sanctioned by the government. In the second case, grant is allowed to special institutions on an ad-hoc basis. In this case, there is no approved pattern and the grant is in the form of lumpsum amount. 278

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On the basis of management, the schools are classified as follows: Government Local body Private aided Private unaided Apart from these, another set of schools include the Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) and the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) which are managed by autonomous organisations under the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Over the years, the number of private schools in the Capital have increased considerably.

Table 1: Approved Budgetary Outlay in Rs (000)

Department of Education 2002-2003 2003-2004 Directorate of Education 1,600,000 1,700,000 Directorate of Higher Education 375,000 600,000 Municipal Corporation of Delhi 1,300,000 1,300,000 New Delhi Municipal Corporation 25,000 25,000 Total 3,300,000 3,625,000 Source Government of National Capital Territory Of Delhi. 2002 and 2003. Budget At A Glance 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. Finance (Budget) Department.

Table 2: Estimated expenditure on education

Year Budget Estimates 2002-2003 11,617,915 2003-2004 12,257,594 Source Government of National Capital Territory Of Delhi. 2002 and 2003. Budget At A Glance 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. Finance (Budget) Department.

Table 3: Total Number of schools6 (Directorate of Education)

Selected Planning Economic Survey educational Department. of Delhi (2001statistics Delhi Govt. 2002) (2000-2001)# (2000-2001)@ Primary 2735 2416 Middle 651 666 652 715 Senior 393 405 393 Senior Secondary 1140 1149 1141 1576 Source- Directorate of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi. http://www.edudel.nic.in/directorate.htm # Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Secondary Education and Higher Education; Planning, Monitoring and Statistics Division. Selected Educational Statistics 2000-2001, 102. New Delhi 2001. @ http://www.delhiplanning.nic.in/Write-up/2002-03/volume-I/General%20Education.pdf Government of NCT of Delhi. 2002. Economic Survey of Delhi 2001-2002. Planning Department. Two facts stand out from the above table. One, that the number of primary schools seem to have reduced from 2,735 (2000-2001) to 2,416 (2001-2002). Second, that there seems to be a Stage Directorate of education website (2000-2001)

Number of schools (Government + private aided + private unaided), 2000-2001 279

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discrepancy in the number of schools projected despite the fact that all of the sources are publications of government departments/agencies.

Private Schools
A private educational institution is one, which is run by an individual or a private organisation including religious bodies, private trusts and philanthropic institutions. Private recognised schools are of two types. Private Aided School: A privately managed school that receives regular maintenance grant from the government, local body or from any public authority is called a private aided school. If an institution which is on the grant-in-aid list of a public authority but does not get the maintenance grant in a particular year then that institution is still treated as an aided institution for that year. Private Unaided School: A private unaided educational institution is one, which is managed by an individual or a private organisation and does not receive maintenance grant either from government, local body or any public authority etc. One time grant for a specific purpose like adding a science block, fencing of the institution, etc. does not make it an aided institution. In the Indian context, the grant-in-aid norms evolved by various states all specify certain minimum conditions such as availability of teachers, buildings, salaries of teachers etc., which are necessary for the recognition of schools managed by private entities. However, in practice, these factors are not adhered to while providing recognition. The government, on its part, does not stick to these norms in its own (government) schools. There are also no steps taken to ensure that the private institutions follow the norms once the recognition is granted. The data for the number of private schools is neither easily available nor accurate. There is apparently no written record of the number of private schools functioning in the city. The Directorate of Education itself is not clear as to whether the number of private schools is increasing or decreasing. According to its website, there were 218 aided and 957 unaided schools in 2000-2001. This totals up to 1,175 private schools. However, according to the Department of Educations 2002 handbook, the number of aided schools is 265 and the number of unaided schools is 888. This implies a total of 1,153 private schools in Delhi- a discrepancy of 22 schools.

Primary education enhances individual earnings by 20% Each year of extra schooling raises mens productivity by 8% and womens productivity by 10%. The direct economic returns to the society from investment in primary education in India have been estimated to be above 20%. Source- The Probe Team. 1999. Public Report on Basic Education in India, 21. Oxford. Oxford University Press
According to the Sixth All- India Educational Survey (1993), NCERT 1998, the share of private schools in Delhi was as follows: Primary: 10.6%. Out of this, 8% were private unaided. Middle: 57.7%. Out of this, 52% were private unaided. Senior: 34.4% were private unaided. Senior secondary: 37%. Out of this, 20.8% were private unaided.

In order to improve retention rates at the primary level and to reduce dropout rates in general, innumerable schemes have been developed. These are backed financially by the Government of India (Centrally Sponsored Schemes, CSS) or the Government of Delhi (SSS) or both (State Centre Partnership, SCP). Some of the welfare schemes are: Distribution of free uniforms Distribution of free textbooks

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Improvement of school libraries National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Midday Meals Scheme)

Operation blackboard However, inspite of the huge amount of funds being allocated to the various schemes, their utilisation leaves a lot to be desired. The Plan Document states that: it shall be our endeavour to see that the benefit of the welfare schemes is given only to such students whose attendance in schools, upto winter vacations, is 75% or more. While in theory, attendance might be a criterion, in practice no such condition applies as the schools follow a policy of automatic promotion upto class 5 (primary level). The Directorate provides several incentives in the form of cash awards and trophies to the deserving meritorious students /teachers, (Rs 300 lac for 10th Five Year Plan) (Rs 50 lac for Annual Plan 2002-03). The scheme proposes awards to the best school at state level and district level and also to teachers and students at the state level and district level. As per the scheme, the value of the State Level Award is Rs 1,00,000/-and Chief Ministers Trophy and the value of the District level award is Rs 50,000/- per district and Minister of Educations Trophy. Apart from that the scheme also provides suitable incentives in the form of cash awards to Principal, teachers and students on the basis of performance in Secondary and Sr. Secondary examinations. Funds are also allocated as scholarships for the students (Rs 110 lac for 10th Five Year Plan) (Rs 20 lac for Annual Plan 2002-03). The students who are benefited under National Scholarship Scheme and Merit Junior Science Talent Search Examination are awarded scholarships under this scheme. A sum of Rs 110 lac for 10th five-year Plan (Rs 20 lac for Annual Plan 2002-03) has been setaside for Bhagidari of Private Management in government schools. The government felt that the poor-performing government schools would benefit from exposure to well managed and betterperforming public schools. The scheme proposes the use of public schools infrastructure and other resources by the students of government schools. Thus, students of Government schools shall use material in laboratories of public schools. Similarly, sports kits or other equipment shall also be used by students of government schools. Those articles that need to be compensated or replaced will be given financial assistance by the government. The program contents are as follows: Cost of lab material/kits used by students of government schools shall be paid. Cost of sports material required by government-school students shall be paid. Cost of study material provided by public schools to government-school students shall be paid. Any other cost incurred by public schools for government-school students shall be paid.

Table 4: Education Schemes: Details

Scheme Outlay for 10th five-year plan 2002-2007 (Rs lac) 1100 Annual plan outlay 2002-2003 (Rs lac) 200 Criteria Scheme contents

Free supply of textbooks

Strengthening of book bank

Total=825 EE= 275 SE=550

Total=150 EE=50 SE=100

Student studying at the primary level in GA and GUA schools Books to be provided to: boy students whose parental income is upto Rs 4000 per month and girl students

Textbooks and five notebooks are provided free of cost to children of GA and GUA primary schools. Books are issued to students of classes 6 to 12 for one academic session after which they have to be returned to the school. After three years the Principals are empowered to write off these used 281

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whose parental income is upto Rs 5000 per month. All libraries in G and GA schools. textbooks.

Funds will be provided as per requirements of the schools for setting up and updating the library. Also, for purchase of books, bookshelves and furniture. Supply of free Total=2020 Total=600 The subsidy is Under the scheme, a cash subsidy of uniforms. EE=770 EE=250 given SE=1250 E=350 (a) to boy (a) Rs. 300/- per student per students whose year would be given to all parental income students of primary classes is upto Rs 4000 of G and GA schools without any income ceiling, per month and (b) to girl (b) Rs. 300/- per student per students whose year for Middle, Secondary Senior Secondary parental income and is upto Rs 5000 Classes of G and GA schools with per month and (c) no income income ceiling laid ceiling for down by Government. students in The income criteria may be Primary Classes. applicable for the students of Class VI to XII. The beneficiaries must be bonafide students of G and GA schools. Source- - http://www.delhiplanning.nic.in/Write-up/2002-03/volume-I/General%20Education.pdf Note: EE: elementary education, SE: secondary education G: government school, GA: government aided, GUA: government unaided Improvement of school libraries. Total=825 EE=125 SE=660 Total=150 EE=30 SE=120

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Education schemes details (contd.)

Scheme Outlay for 10th five-year plan 2002-2007 (Rs lac) 240 Annual plan outlay 2002-2003 (Rs lac) 54 Criteria Scheme contents

Socially Useful Productive Work (SUPW) & Other Cocurricular activities

Work experience programme has two type of activities : a) Core activities b) Elective activities. Core activities include cleaning and maintaining of school plants and other Social service oriented activities. Elective activities include skill development activities which may lead to production of finished goods.

Four schools will be Computer Science & Informatics Practices as selected from each of elective subjects will be 28 zone, and the three taught at +2 level as per Pratibha Vikas curriculum prescribed by Vidyalayas, taking the the CBSE. Functional total number to 115 Computer Literacy shall schools. In the selection be imparted to students of schools, priority will from classes VI to X be given to Sarvodaya in lieu of SUPW subject. schools, and those 4 teachers and one nonschools where the teaching official of each science stream at the +2 school will be given level has a sizeable special training in small number of students. It will also be ensured batches for Computer that at least 30 percent of Literacy. the schools covered in the first year will be girls schools. Source- - http://www.delhiplanning.nic.in/Write-up/2002-03/volume-I/General%20Education.pdf Note: EE: elementary education, SE: secondary education G: government school, GA: government aided, GUA: government unaided Introduction Of Computer Science At +2 Stage 16,515 2300 The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education commonly known as the Mid Day Meals scheme was launched in August 1995. Since 1995-96 Central Government has been unable to fund the scheme adequately. Government of India has been able to meet only about 50% of the finances necessary to get food grains required to feed all the primary school children. Over Rs 800 crore of Food Corporation of India (FCI) bills remain outstanding. On the basis of food grains lifted, at best 60% and at worst 30% of student could be covered; alternatively, 30-60% requirement of food grains was met. The FCI linkage led to such a complex administrative arrangement that state governments were unable to lift allocations, and lifted on an average 1.17 kg per student vis--vis the 3 kg prescribed under the scheme. Levying excessive transport charges was the favoured leakage

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technique employed in this arrangement. By March 1999 only five states viz, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Pondichery were doing so. And this was no real achievement because in those states the scheme existed even prior to 1995. Overall, only 22% of the children were provided cooked meals. For the rest of the States continued distribution of food grains was permitted since the inception of the scheme in 1995. Not surprisingly the assumed impact of the scheme didtake place. The scheme required 80% attendance for food grain eligibility. Of the 31 States and Union Territories, only 8 followed this criterion, thereby defeating the key objective of the scheme. In any case, the scheme seems to have had little impact on school attendance. The ultimate failure of the programme was in not achieving set goals. Enrolment declined instead of increasing in Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab and Sikkim. Retention dropped as dropout rate shot up. Even the nutrition supplement dropped from 2 kg/student/month to 1.17 kg/student/ month during 199599. The performance further deteriorated with shift of programme ownership from the States to the Central Government.

Table 5: National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education

Mid-day meals Target group All students of primary classes (I-V) in the Government, Local Body and Government aided schools in the country are being covered in all States/UTs (except Lakhsdweep). Private Unaided schools and Non-Formal Education Centres are not covered under the programme Financial assistance Cent percent Central assistance is being reimbursed for meeting the costs of food-grains (wheat and rice) supplied free of cost by Food Corporation of India and transportation charges to the District Authorities for movement of foodgrains from FCI godowns to the schools @ actual cost upto Rs 50 per quintal as applicable under Public Distribution System. Scheme contents The scheme envisages for serving of cooked meals having a calorific value equivalent of 100 gms of wheat/rice per student per school day. Food-grains (wheat and rice) are allocated @ 100 gram per child per school day where cooked/processed hot meal is being served and 3 kgs. per student per month subject to a minimum attendance of 80% by the students where food-grains are being distributed.

The expenditure on kitchen sheds and labour is to be met from the funds available for works and employment generation under Poverty Alleviation Schemes (JRY/NRY) of the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment and the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment. Source- Government of India, Department of Education: http://www.education.nic.in/htmlweb/middaymeal1.htm Perfect lunch box (the packed mid-day meal will contain) Chana Dal Pulao Vegetable Daliya Vegetable Pulao Chivra Chapati and vegetable Moong Dalia Parantha Nutritious Daliya Dal Parantha Vegetable Powha Vegetable and Upma Idli and vegetable Rice and sambhar Source- Express News Service. 2003. Mid-day meals for government, primary schools from July 1. The Indian Express, 26 June.

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On 26 June 2003, The Indian Express, Newsline reported that the MCD will provide cooked meals in its primary schools as well as Delhi government schools from the new academic session starting on July 1 2003. However, not relying on its resources, the Corporation has roped in NGOs and private caterers to do the job. The food shall first be tested and certified for its quality and an independent third party, such as the Nutrition Foundation of India, would make surprise inspections of the kitchens of NGOs and caterers. The cost of a meal is Rs 2.40 per child, of which Rs 2 will be paid to the NGO in cash and the equivalent of the remaining 40 paise in wheat/rice shall be provided by the Ministry of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Instructions have been issued to the NGOs to draw wheat and rice in 50:50 proportion from the FCI godowns. The payment to the service providers shall be released every fortnight. The meal would be prepared at night and then sent to the schools by 9 am the next day.

On 26 June 2003, The Indian Express reported that as per the Supreme Court order initially the hot meals would be provided to 292 MCD and 82 government schools covering 2.5 lac children.

Operation Blackboard was launched in 1987 and taken up as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme during the 7th Five-Year Plan. The main objectives of the OB Scheme (1987) were: A building comprising at least two reasonably large all weather rooms with a deep veranda and separate toilet facilities for boys and girls.
At least two teachers in every school, as far as possible, one of them a woman; and essential teaching-learning aid materials including blackboards, maps, charts, toys and equipment for work experience.

The scheme has been extended to upper-primary schools too.7

Table 6: Financial outlay and expenditure for 9th five-year plan And Outlay for 10th five-year plan (Rs 000)
Outlay for 10th five-year plan 9th five year plan approved outlay 1997-2002 50,400 5,075 9th five year plan expenditure 9th five year plan actual expenditure Annual plan outlay 2002-2003 10th five year plan approved outlay 2002-2007 88,600 24,000

Directorate of Education Directorate of higher education Municipal Corporation of Delhi New Delhi municipal corporation Total

42,796.92 12,070.09

31,445.74 10,457.70

16,000 3,750

30,000

36,451

26,616.00

13,000

70,000

600

775.05

551.50

250

1,400

86,075

94,494.94

69,074.94

33,000

1,84,000

Source: MHRD, Annual Report: 1993-94 285

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Source- Planning Department, Government of NCT of Delhi. http://www.delhiplanning.nic.in/Write-up/200203/volume-I/General%20Education.pdf The Delhi Government provides education to children at all levels, starting from primary to senior secondary. As per the education directorates website, of the 625 schools that are completely managed by the Delhi Government, 326 have been converted to composite (Sarvodaya) schools thus incorporating classes 1 to 12. However, this figure comes out to 168 when counted from their handbook. The schools under the aegis of the Delhi Government are divided into 9 districts and 28 zones.

Table 7: Number of Government schools in Delhi

Category 2000-2001# 2001-2002* Government Middle 154 123 (26 co-ed) Government secondary 191 151 (37 co-ed+1adult) Government Senior secondary 664 351 (24 co-ed+1 adult) Total Government 1009 625 schools Government aided 218 265 Government unaided 957 888 Gross Total 2184 1778 Source- # Directorate of education, Government of NCT of Delhi. http://www.edudel.nic.in/directorate.htm * Directorate of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi. 2002. Departmental directory 2002. Delhi Bureau of Text Books. On studying the above figures, it is surprising to note that the number of schools has reduced.

Table 8: Teacher-Pupil Ratio

Primary 1:34 Middle 1:48 Senior/senior secondary 1:54 Source- Government of NCT of Delhi. 2002. Economic Survey of Delhi 2001-2002. Planning Department. According to the 1991 census data: 12% of the population falls in the age group 0-4yrs. 12.1% of the population falls in the age group 5-9 yrs. 10.7% of the population falls in the age group 10-14 yrs. 50.7% of the population falls in the age group 15-44 yrs. Delhi then, had a population of a little over 1.9 million people falling in the age group of 0-6 years. 8 Literacy rates for different age groups were: 89.5% for 10-14 yrs 85.1% for15-19yrs9 There is no paucity of funds allocated to the education directorate of the Delhi Government for the implementation of different schemes. Yet, the pass percentage in government schools at secondary level is only 40 per cent. It has been found that when a child reaches, say Class 9, his level of skill is
8

Source- http://www.censusindia.net/results/provindia2.html Source- http://www.censusindia.net/data/del.pdf 286

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only that of a Class 6 student. The problem obviously then stems from improper utilisation of these funds. According to a study10 conducted by the Committee on Improvement of Quality Education in Delhi government schools, only Rs 54,000 was spent by the Directorate of Education on new initiatives including improving spiritual and extra-curricular activities despite the budget provision of Rs 14.3 crore. For instance, Rs 25 lac was provided in the budget with great fanfare to start yoga training in government schools. This amount was revised to Rs 15 lac after a mid-year review. But shockingly, not a single penny was spent during 2001-02 for this purpose. In fact, Rs 30 lac was provided under the Improvement of School Libraries scheme but again no money was spent. The much-touted Computer Awareness Programme in government (Model) schools did not get any funds from Government. Of the Rs 5 crore, provided for renovation of existing buildings, only 33 lac was spent. The Rs 3.50 crore provided for Bhagidari of private management in government schools also failed to take off as only Rs 8 lac was spent. Of a total allocation of Rs 14.3 crore which was later revised to Rs 76 lac, only Rs 54,000 had been utilised. This clearly shows the utter state of neglect prevailing in government schools.

Table 9: Student enrolment figures, in lac

Selected Educational Statistics, Economic Survey of Delhi, 2001-2002* 2000-2001# Primary 9.96 14.67 Middle 4.75 6.23 Senior/senior secondary 3.07 13.13 Source- # Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Secondary Education and Higher Education; Planning, Monitoring and Statistics Division. Selected Educational Statistics 2000-2001, 119. New Delhi 2001. * Government of NCT of Delhi. 2002. Economic Survey of Delhi 2001-2002. Planning Department. Category The 2000-2001 CAG report slams the education department on the following accounts: In March 1995, the Department of Education decided to distribute calendars to students of class 4 and above, in Government-aided, private, MCD and NDMC schools as part of the 9th Five-Year Plan Scheme of value based education. The Director of Education made full and final payment of Rs 79.09 lac in July 1999 without verifying the number of calendars actually received. The Departments failure to monitor the receipt and distribution of calendars and to verify the actual supply before release of payment resulted in over payment of Rs 10.35 lac for 1.77 lac calendars that were short supplied. Besides this, 44,310 calendars worth Rs 2.60 lac remained undistributed. The Director of Education awarded the work of hiring tin-sheds without ascertaining the competitive rates in the markets, thereby resulting in avoidable expenditure of Rs 50.44 lac. The Education Department was hiring tents for government schools where pucca structures were not available. However, their decision regarding this project was flawed as the Department accepted a higher tender rate without obtaining prior sanction from Finance Department before the award of the work. Also, the Department failed to take advantage of competitive bids in 1998-1999 and incurred an avoidable expenditure of Rs 50.44 lac. Under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, primary education is an obligatory function of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Initially the MCD also ran some 400 Middle Schools and 11 Senior Secondary Schools (up to June 30, 1970). Thereafter, with effect from July 1 1970, Delhi Administration took over these schools from the MCD. Since then, the education department of the MCD has only been running Primary Schools. The MCD also recognises primary schools run by voluntary organisations within the MCD limits. Pre-primary classes are also arranged for children of age group 3-5 years.

10

As reported in The Hindu on 22 October 2002. 287

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Table 10: Number of MCD schools11

Category Boys Primary Schools 688 Aided Schools Primary Schools with Nursery Classes Schools for mentally retarded children Model Schools Independent Nursery Schools Source Municipal Corporation of Delhi. 2003. Civic Guide. Girls 681 co-ed 451 Total 1820 47 852 4 268 33

Table 11: Number of children studying in MCD schools

Category No. of Boys No. of Girls Primary 4,43,276 4,43,662 Nursery 24,009 24,840 Source- Municipal Corporation of Delhi. 2003. Civic Guide. Total 8,86,938 48,849

The department has 15 zonal offices, which have been set up for the administrative control and supervision of the schools. There are 11 zonal libraries and one central library under the MCD. It has been instructed by MCD that the student teacher ration should be 1:55. In practice however, there are 45 students per teacher. This shows that the overall average ratio is quite favourable. But at the individual schools level, this ratio is highly skewed, so much so that in some schools one teacher is teaching three to four classes simultaneously i.e. about 200 students. At the same time, there are cases where one teacher teaches just 8-10 students. One reason for this is the corruption in transfers of teachers. Influential teachers are able to get themselves posted to schools in the heart of the city whereas no one wants to be posted in the outskirts.12 While the MCD claims to be implementing welfare schemes (such as distribution of free textbooks, free school uniforms, and mid-day meals), there is no doubt that the situation in the schools is becoming from bad to worse.

Table 12: Welfare Schemes

Scheme 1. Free textbooks 2. 3. 4. 5. Free school uniform Mid-day meals Merit talent scholarships Science talent scholarships No. of children 850 1,600 2,000 45 29 Cost (Rs lac) 9,15,000 9,15,000 9,65,000 7,540 7,000

Source- Municipal Corporation of Delhi. 2003. Civic Guide.

Table 13: Talent scholarship exam

Class No. of scholarships Amount of scholarships (Rs) Class 3 2,522 250 per student Class 4 2,504 300 per student Class 5 2,496 350 per student Total 7,521 Source Municipal Corporation of Delhi. 2003. Civic Guide.
11

13

Total Amount (Rs) 6,30,500 7,51,200 8,73,250 22,54,950

12 13

According to the planning department, there were 1850 MCD schools in Delhi in 2000-2001 (September 2000). Teacher pupil ratio in MCD primary school: 1:52 economic survey of Delhi, 2001-2002) Students who secure 65% marks or more in the preceding annual examination can sit for this test. 288

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Table 14: Science Talent Test14

Class No. of scholarships Class 4 2,277 Class 5 2,439 Total 4,716 Source Municipal Corporation of Delhi. 2003. Civic Guide. Total amount 6,83,100 8,53,650 15,36,750

The plight of the MCD schools is well known. There are frequent reports of MCD not distributing free textbooks to its students. Mid-day meals are not given everyday as the rulebook says. Jerseys meant for distribution in winter remain stacked in the stores while the children shiver in the cold. Ninety percent of the students havent got uniforms since enrolment. The MCD schools are under equipped in the sphere of infrastructure also. There are enough cases of students sitting on torn and dirty rags in the courtyard. There are 1,818 Corporation schools. Over the years, the Corporation has not been able to provide pucca buildings to them. A large number of them are still run under tents. The shortage of teachers and non-payment of salaries seem to be perennial problems. According to a report in the Pioneer, there are 250 posts of headmasters lying vacant with no efforts to fill these up. For the 9th Five Year Plan (1997-2002), the government approved Rs 390 crore to the Corporation for primary education.

Table 15: 9th five-year MCD plan outlay for primary education
Activity 9th five-year plan outlay in Rs crore 177 90 50 65 5 10th five year outlay in Rs crore plan

Construction of buildings Mid -day meal programme Expansion of primary education 100 welfare schemes 150 Expansion and improvement of pre10 primary education improvement of science teaching 1.50 5 strengthening of inspectorate staff 1 8 improvement of primary education 0.50 5 Source-ttp://www.delhiplanning.nic.in/Write-up/2002-03/volume-III/General%20Education.pdf From the year 1996-97, the physical targets have been fixed to provide Mid-day meals to all students studying in MCD primary schools at the rate of Rs 2 per child per day for 180-200 working days.

The Indian Express on 3 July 2003, reported that the Corporation has engaged a religious society- International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON) in its project. If ISKON accepts the request, MCD will pay it Rs 3 per meal. The Supreme Court has ordered that the MCD serve cooked mid-day meals in all its schools by 1 July 2003. Mr. Farhad Suri, chairman, MCDs education committee says that MCD will set up a modern kitchen for any organisation, which accepts the responsibility of feeding at least 50,000 students.

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Students of classes 4 and 5 who secure 65% marks in aggregate and 75% marks in science in the preceding annual examination can appear in the examination 289

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The MCD has a total budget of Rs 22 crore from the Centre and Rs 10 crore from its non-plan budget which is likely to vary. This allows for Rs 2.40 per child. The shortcomings of the education wing of MCD are clearly highlighted in the CAG report for year ended March 2002. The review focuses on the performance of MCD with regard to the implementation of the various educational schemes involving capital expenditure, including those relating to expansion of primary education, provision of various amenities in schools, welfare of children etc. The original objectives have either been partially implemented or not implemented at all. Between 1997-98 and 2001-02, the MCD failed to utilise funds totalling Rs 56.60 crore meant for expansion of primary schools and welfare schemes. There was a cost overrun of Rs. 3.44 crore besides time overrun of 41 months in five cases of construction of schools. The following are some of the schemes partially carried out by the MCD: Expansion of primary education:

Table 16
Scheme Ninth five-year plan target Achievement Opening of new schools 230 92 Enrolment 1.3 lac 0.91 lac Source- Government of NCT of Delhi. 2002. Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March 2002. This represents a shortfall of 60% in the opening of new schools and 30% in the targeted enrolment. Free textbooks (ideally to be provided at the beginning of the academic year in April) were provided after considerable delays and in some schools even when the first term was scheduled to end. The MCD is supposed to provide six free textbooks to students of classes 1, 3, 4 and 5. Students of class 2 are supposed to get four textbooks each. The Corporation failed to supply uniforms to the students during 1998-99 and 2001-02. Winter jerseys were supplied at end of the winter season. Also, the Corporation incurred avoidable extra expenditure of Rs 5.37 lac on the purchase of 3.07 lac jerseys.

The Indian Express Newsline, 3 July 2003 The worn out tents, which make the MCDs primary school in Hastsal slum colony, were gone when the students returned for the new session on 1 July 2003. The MCD, in order to save on rent, had removed them during the summer vacations. It however, forgot to put them back. As a result, after the morning assembly, Headmaster Mukhtyar Singh told the students that they could go home. This school depends on 10 teachers as of now. The students need at least 12 to 15 more teachers. Thin tin walls separate the school from pigs living in the garbage, contaminated sewage water and stray dogs.
The MCD failed to: Provide adequate classrooms: the planning for the construction of classrooms seems to have been neither realistic nor systematic. Despite sufficient funds, there was an increase in the number of schools/classes functioning in tents. While in 2000-01, there were 47 schools functioning in tents, this figure increased to 51 in 2001-02. On the other hand there were 41 schools that had 354 classrooms in excess of their requirement.

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The Indian Express, 3 July 2003 This year there are 43 schools running completely in tents while 76 are running partially in tents. There are 16 municipal primary schools that are functioning on disputed property. There are 50 schools that do not have electricity. Thirty-seven of these are run in tents, ten belong to non-electrified areas, two schools do not have current and one has a high-tension wire running over it. As many as 35 MCD schools do not receive any water.

Replace tented accommodation with pucca or semi-pucca accommodation, which was the stated objective of the Basic Minimum Service Scheme. Provide basic amenities like water, electricity and lavatory/ toilet facilities. Also, there is no correlation between the infrastructure projections of the Director, Primary Education and the targets fixed by Engineer-in-Chief which were invariably lower than the projected requirements. Even such low targets were not achieved and still there have been excessive expenditures due to diversion of funds and cost overruns.

Table 17
Facility Requirement (of 9th five-year plan) 7500 2000 Shortage (as of 1997) Construction undertaken Construction completed (as of 2002) 729 9

Classrooms 3908 1849 Water 243 54 closets/urinals Boundary wall 200 56 22 9 Source- Government of NCT of Delhi. 2002. Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March 2002. Page 87. The reasons cited for non-implementation of the various schemes (inspite of availability of funds) are: Delays in framing proposals Procedural infirmities Non-finalization of tenders No review of each-year targets based on performance in the previous years. Cases of diversion of funds: Test check of the records of 5 out of 10 departments showed that Rs 54.03 lac have been diverted/ misutilised: in one case for payment of staff and in the other case for constructions unrelated to school buildings.

Table 18: Deficiencies in provision of basic amenities

Particulars Info made available by Zones 122 lavatories in 119 schools 3,355 fans in 407 schools None Position in respect of 156 schools based on test-check by Audit 177 lavatory/ toilet blocks in 58 schools 1,321 fans in 95 of these schools were non-functional for periods ranging from 6 months to 4 years 2,558 children in 6 of the schools had either to bring their own tat patties or sit on floors 1,226 chairs and tables in 78 schools

No. of schools in which toilets were less than requirements No. of schools in which fans were not working No. of schools without proper seating arrangements for students Shortage of chairs and tables

None

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Source- Government of NCT of Delhi. 2002. Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March 2002. Page 89.

The students of MCD began a new academic year on 1 July 2003, without any textbooks. According to the figures released by the education department of MCD, the number of books required is over 37.6 lac. Nearly 30 lac books have been lifted by the Corporation but have not been distributed. According to leader of MCD opposition, Subhash Arya, the MCD requires 64 lac textbooks every year. Twenty-seven lac books are needed to be procured to meet the demand. The MCD spends upto Rs 8 crore every year on printing, of which Rs 5 crore has already been spent this year.

New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) too has been entrusted with the responsibility of providing primary education in the capital. Apart from this, it is also running schools at the middle, secondary and senior secondary levels. The NDMC considers Delhi as one unit for educational administration.

Table 19: Number of schools

According to According to the According to Dy. planning department NDMC website.* Director Education, NDMC Nursery 19 37 Primary 36 87 69 Middle 10 6 10 Secondary 9 11 10 Senior Secondary 6 6 5 # Planning Department, Government of NCT of Delhi. Sourcehttp://www.delhiplanning.nic.in/Write-up/2002-03/volume-I/General%20Education.pdf * http://www.ndmc.gov.in/main_edu.htm Stages

The Indian Express Newsline, 28 July 2003. The NDMC has decided to introduce a revised mid-day meal scheme for over 23,843 students of its primary and nursery schools. The meal will be served for 200 days at an estimated expenditure of Rs 3 per day per child. The council will incur an expenditure of Rs 139.46 lac for this scheme.

Earlier the NDMC used to distribute fruits or nuts to its students as part of the mid-day meal scheme. The National Policy on Education, 1986, envisaged setting up of residential schools, to be called Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs), that would bring out the best in rural talent. The inspiration for this concept takes off from the literal meaning of the word Navodaya:Nav-Uday or New Dawn. This concept is unique as its significance lies in the selection of talented rural children as the target group. The scheme started with two vidyalayas (Originally known as Model Schools): Jhajjar in Rohtak (Haryana) and Amravati (Maharashtra) in 1986. These schools are run by the Navodaya Samiti, which is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Secondary and Higher Education. Navodaya Vidyalayas offer free education to talented children from Class 6 to 12. These schools are affiliated to the CBSE and the children are admitted on the basis of a merit test conducted by CBSE. These schools aim to provide sufficient building for teaching, laboratories, co-curricular activities, boarding houses and staff quarters. For the financial year 2000-2001, the total budget allocated to the Samiti was Rs 457.64 crore. The total expenditure for the same period was Rs 424.76 crore.

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Four hundred and forty Vidyalayas had been sanctioned as of March 2001. It has been proposed to open 94 new JNVs during the 9th plan period to bring the total coverage to 482 districts. In Delhi, two such schools exist at present. One was set up in 1989-90 and the other in 1991-92. Board results of the JNVs compare favourably with their counterparts, Kendriya Vidyalayas and other eminent public and private schools affiliated to the CBSE.

Table 20: Pass percentages, Board Examination, 2001

School/ Agency Class 10 Class 12 CBSE (national average) 66.6 75.2 NVS 87 84.2 KVS 81 83.7 GOVT. 38.9 69.3 Independent 85.4 82.9 Source Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. Annual Report 2000-2001. New Delhi Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) form yet another category of schools functioning in Delhi. These however, are managed by Government of India and not the Government of NCT of Delhi. Kendriya Vidyalayas are run by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, which is an autonomous body formed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The Sangathan has three tier management structure: Headquarters Regional Offices managing a cluster about 45-50 schools Kendriya Vidyalayas spread all over the country and abroad each hailing their Vidyalaya Management Committees.

Table 21: Class 10 results

Year CBSE average (%) 2000-2001 66.6 2001-2002 69.53 Source: http://www.kvsangathan.org/results.htm KVs average (%) 81.08 85.57

Table 22: Class 12 results

Year CBSE average (%) 2000-2001 75.02 2001-2002 75.20 Source: http://www.kvsangathan.org/results.htm KVs average (%) 83.70 86.44

There are 36 KVs operating in Delhi. The Kendriya Vidyalayas impart education at three levels viz. from classes I to V (Primary), VI to X (Secondary) and classes XI-XII (Sr. Secondary). Education is imparted through a bilingual medium, Hindi and English.

Conclusions
We have a fundamental right to education. However, as Dr Parth J. Shah remarked in the Economic Times, 18 July 2002, If a child is out of school, it (the constitution) holds parents, not the government, accountable. The government wastes no time in setting rules/standards for the private schools. But when it comes to its own schools, these rules are as good as not existent. Those few who wish to set up a private school for the poor are not able to do so simply because of the expensive regulatory requirements.

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The Directorate of Education, is ill-equipped to deal with the education scenario in the Capital and should be entrusted only with looking after the regulatory work rather than promoting academic interests. Many of its officials are kept busy with tons of paper work throughout the year. This leaves them with hardly any time and inclination to implement policies, which might help improve the quality of education being provided in the government schools. For promoting academics and ushering in education reforms, an autonomous organisation needs to be created for management of these schools. Also, the Directorate of education should be left as a regulatory agency for the functioning of private schools. An independent committee should be set up to monitor the working of government schools. However, it will not help to simply hand over some of the worst performing government schools to private management. The government itself is not clear on what to do with them and how to bring in this new system. Delhi Government decided to pay a fixed amount to the management of public schools for running these institutions. Answers to questions regarding how they will go about the uniforms, the fees, the kind of teachers they will recruit and the admission procedure etc., still remain vague. The Delhi Government spends Rs 800 on every schoolchild per month. It is ready to pay Rs 400 to the public schools once they take over. However, how the public schools will raise the remaining money and go about recruiting new teachers is still not clear. Another idea that the government came up with was its twining programme. Under this, around 50 government schools are supposed to tie up with 50 private schools in their respective areas to improve performance. The scheme apparently didnt work, as the government couldnt find a partner school for it in the area. The implementation of various welfare schemes falls short on a lot of accounts. The Directorate of Education often expects its teachers to implement certain schemes and as they (the teachers) are not able to carry out the tasks designated to them, eventually the responsibility falls on a third party, such as an NGO. At the same time, the Directorate has no qualms about setting its teachers on election duty, census duty etc. Obviously such matters dont seem to prick the conscience of the Directorate.

Recommendations
The government should learn a lesson from its past experiences. it should not waste precious time on trivial matters such as who implements what scheme: it should focus on getting the schemes implemented. Another thing the government could do away with is the criterion of attendance in the implementation of schemes such as the mid-day meals. This idea is neither feasible norstuck to in practice. It simply does not make sense to set conditions like this when eventually there is a minuscule probability of them being followed. A lot of time and resources are wasted more often than not due to much avoidable delays. For instance, most of the times, free uniforms to be distributed to the students remain stacked in the storerooms simply because no teacher is willing to take on the responsibility of distributing the same. Same is the case with school bags. Mid-day meals, until some time back were not provided cooked simply because there was no one to cook them. The government could give the students cash for procuring their uniforms. A similar system could also be followed for textbooks. One might say that there is no guarantee that the money will be spent on the fore-mentioned things. But then, there is also no guarantee of the kids obtaining these things from the government itself. Maybe the Government could shift to supplying Ready To Eat food, rather than persisting with supply of hot cooked meal by developing sources for preparation and supply of such foods on the basis of local tastes. In the light of the above cases, it seems that the Directorate is bringing about changes. Students are now given cash instead of ready-made uniforms. The recent decision to hand over the responsibility of providing cooked mid-day meals to NGOs is a result of the fact that the schools/teachers were not in a position to do the same themselves. However, it is welcoming to see that such a decision has been taken. One hopes that now that the mid-day meals will finally be

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cooked, theyll be provided to the students. But certain other factors need to be kept in mind while implementing this scheme: Data should be collected on the number of students to be benefited by the scheme. Data should be collected systematically on the improvement of nutritional status of children. The nutrition supplement of the meals should be maintained. A change could be brought about with respect to the no detention policy being followed by the government. It simply does not make sense to promote kids on the basis of satisfactory attendance when, for most of the times, this criterion is not stuck to. And in the long run, it kills the very purpose of education as the children passout of class 5 having learnt hardly anything. A system of tests should be developed to assess the levels of learning for children of primary classes. Each school could come up with its own system of testing the students. The same syllabus and textbook cannot be relevant in the varied environments of a city, a village and a hamlet.15 If we continue with the policy of no detention, education will end up being useless. To implement the 1986 National Policy of Education, the curriculum was introduced by the NCERT in 1988, with the directive that it should be revised after every five years, in order to maintain the relevance and effectiveness of the system. But it was only in 2002 that the revised curriculum was introduced and that too, without any feedback and without any study of the implementation of the previous curriculum. Our curriculum needs to be updated regularly. More emphasis should be laid on understanding the various concepts rather than learning by rote. The Directorate needs to be clear about the number of schools under its aegis. Efforts should be made to maintain systematic records regarding the figures and there should be no reason for these to differ from one government publication to another. At the same time, this data should be easily accessible. The private schools can be encouraged to take up the cause of promotion of education amongst the children of the poor population. For instance, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram runs the Anubhav Shiksha Kendra (ASK) after school hours for teaching slum kids. The children use the schools infrastructure in terms of classrooms, chairs, desks, toilets and playground. A teacher from the school itself heads the ASK. However, teachers are recruited from outside. The Kendra is growing in strength every year. Apart from the fact that the kids are taught in an encouraging and healthy environment, they seem to be taking pride in coming to school as well. The existing education scenario is not one to be proud of. Maybe the time has come for the government to involve the general public in the management of its schools: those who have a fairly better idea of what is needed to bring about a change in the education system and, more importantly, those who are willing to bring about the change: if its to be, its upto me

References
Aggarwal, Yash. Primary education in Delhi: how much do children learn. November 2000. New Delhi. National Institute of Education, Planning and Administration. Annual Report: 1993-94. Ministry of Human Resource Development. Annual Report 2000-2001. Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. New Delhi Batra, Amba. 2003. Schools begin session without books. The Indian Express, 3 July. Batra, Amba. 2003. MCD tent school asks for a roof but gets sky. The Indian Express, 3 July. Batra, Amba. 2003. Commissioner orders enquiry. The Indian Express, 3 July.

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Parth J. Shah. Liberalise the education sector. The Economic Times, 18 July 2002. 295

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Budget At A Glance 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. Finance (Budget) Department. Government of National Capital Territory Of Delhi. Civic Guide. 2003. Municipal Corporation of Delhi Department of Education. Official website. Government of India. Accessed at http://www.education.nic.in/htmlweb/middaymeal1.htm Directorate of Education. Official Website. Government of NCT of Delhi. Accessed at http://www.edudel.nic.in/directorate.htm Directorate of Education. Departmental directory 2002. Delhi Bureau of TextBooks. Government of NCT of Delhi. 2002. Economic Survey of Delhi 2001-2002. Planning Department. Government of NCT of Delhi. Express News Service. 2003. Commissioner orders enquiry. The Indian Express, 3 July. Express News Service. 2003. MCD goes to school, dosent have textbooks. The Indian Express, 3 July Express News Service. 2003. Mid-day meals for government, primary schools from July 1. The Indian Express, 26 June. Express News Service. 2003. Mid-day meals : NDMC cooks a new plan. The Indian Express, 28 June. Express News Service. 2003. Mid-day tiffins to be packed in ISKON kitchen. The Indian Express, 3 July. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. Official Website. Accessed at http://www.kvsangathan.org/results.htm New Delhi Municipal Council. Official Website. Accessed at http://www.ndmc.gov.in/main_edu.htm http://www.ndmc.gov.in/edu_ras.htm http://www.ndmc.gov.in/edu_ruas.htm Planning Department. Official Website. Government of Delhi. Accessed at http://www.delhiplanning.nic.in/Write-up/2002-03/volume-I/General%20Education.pdf Planning Department. Official Website. Government of Delhi. Accessed at http://www.delhiplanning.nic.in/Write-up/2002-03/volume-III/General%20Education.pdf Public Report on Basic Education in India. The Probe Team. 1999. Oxford University Press Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended March 2002. Government of NCT of Delhi. Selected Educational Statistics 2000-2001. Government of India. Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Secondary Education and Higher Education, Planning, Monitoring and Statistics Division. New Delhi 2001.

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Sixth All- India Educational Survey (1993), National Council for Education, Research and Training. Shah, Parth J. 2002. Liberalise the education sector. The Economic Times, 18 July. Accessed at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=16292845 Times News Network. 2003. Isckon to feed MCD students. Times Of India, 4 July. Times News Network. 2003. No textbooks for you, just do with the board. Times Of India, 4 July.

Appendix
The School: A school normally comprises a group of pupils of one or more grades organised to receive instructions of a given type and level duly prescribed by a school Board/Government under one or more than one teacher. Schools are classified by type, by management, by category, by stage, by recognition etc. Recognised School: A recognised school is one in which the course(s) of study followed is/are prescribed or recognised by the Government (Central/State) or a university or a Board constituted by law or by any other agency authorised in this behalf by the Central or State Government and which satisfies one or more of the authorities e.g. Directorate of Education, Municipal Board, School Board etc. with regard to its standard of efficiency and availability of infrastructure. It runs regular classes and sends candidates for public examination, if any. Unrecognised School: Unrecognised schools are those which are not recognised by the Govt. (central/state/local /Board/University etc. Such schools are not obliged to follow the prescribed curriculum or the textbooks. The management can fix fee without approval from the government.

School Management:
The authority, which runs an educational institution, determines its type of management. It may be Government, local body and private body receiving grants-in-aid or not receiving grants-in-aid. As such educational institutions may be classified as follows: Government: An educational institution run by Central or State Government, public sector undertaking or autonomous organisation wholly financed by Government will be classified as Government educational institution. For instance KVS, NVS, Sainik Schools, State Govt. Schools, Ashram Schools, Military Schools, Air Force Schools, Naval Schools, etc. will fall under this category. Local Body: An educational institution run by Municipal committees/ corporation/NAC/Zilla Parishad/Panchayat Samiti/Cantonment Boards etc. is classified as a local body institution. In Delhi for instance all Primary schools managed by NDMC/MCD etc. will fall under this category. Private Schools: A private educational institution is one, which is run by an individual or a private organisation including religious bodies and private trust and philanthropic institutions. Private recognised schools are of two types. Private Aided School: A privately managed school which is in receipt of regular maintenance grant from the Government, local body or from any public authority is called private aided school. If an institution which is on the grant-in-aid list of a public authority but does not get the maintenance grant in a particular year that institution will still be treated as an aided institution for that year. Private Unaided School: A private unaided educational institution is one, which is managed by an individual or a private organisation and is not receiving maintenance grant either from Government, local body or any public authority etc. One time grant for a specific purpose like adding a science block, fencing of the institution, etc. will not make the unaided institution as aided. It will still remain unaided institution. SOURCE -http://www.edudel.nic.in/directorate.htm

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Categories of Educational Institutions:

The educational institutions are divided into three types, viz.; Boys, Girls and Co-educational. oys institution: An educational institution for boys is one where only boys are admitted to all classes and admission of girls is restricted to some specific classes only. For instance in a Sr. Secondary School for Boys, there is the facility for teaching of Geography which is not available in the adjoining Girls Sr. Secondary School. So, the girls of that area will be admitted to this school for the teaching learning of geography but it will still be treated a Boys Sr. Secondary School and not a co-educational Sr. Secondary School. Girls institution: An educational institution is girls institution if only girls are admitted to all classes and admission of boys is restricted to some specific classes as described above. Co-educational institution: A co-educational institution is one in which both boys and girls are admitted to all classes in the institution.

Schools by Stages / Structure Of Education System

Pre-higher education: Duration of compulsory education: Age of entry: 6 Age of exit: 12 Structure of school system: Primary stage: A primary school comprising I-IV/V classes Type of school providing this education: Lower Primary School (Standards I To V) Length of program in years: 5 Age level from: 6 to: 11 Middle/UPPER PRIMARY STAGE: Type of school providing this education: Middle School (Standards V/VI-VII/VIII) Length of program in years: 3 Age level from: 11 to: 14 Secondary stage: A high school having IX-X classes Type of school providing this education: Secondary School (Standards IX To X) Length of program in years: 2 Age level from: 14 to: 16 Certificate/diploma awarded: Secondary School Certificate Senior secondary: A higher secondary school comprising (XI-XII) classes Type of school providing this education: Senior/higher Secondary School (Standards XI to Xii) Length of program in years: 2 Age level from: 16 to: 18 Certificate/diploma awarded: Senior /Higher Secondary School Certificate

Secondary Education
Secondary education usually lasts between two and four years. After two years, pupils who have completed ten years of education (Standard X) take the Secondary School Certificate. Pupils completing a further two years of education (Standard XII) sit for the Higher/Senior Secondary School Certificate.

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