This book shares insight into political decisions taken for education improvement in Delhi.
Changed the education model so that 5% get the best kind of education and 95% get the worst kind.
Budget: Doubled the budget from 12% to 25% of the annual budget for education. For example, Delhi has a 36,000 crore annual budget, of which the government spends 9000 crore on education.
Infrastructure: The basic needs of the school were not there, like broken and dirty walls, broken blackboards, lights and fans not working, and a layer of dust. Some schools were built away from children on farmland. The solution was to build new schools at the proper location with new classrooms. Procurement of tables and chairs for school use to get from Tihar jail was very slow and corrupt, so this system was changed and schools started procuring high-quality material from local vendors.
Breaking the Traditions: Poor Education, According to Pratham's Annual Status of Education Report, 50% of Class 5 students can't read Class 2 books properly. The government has done an independent survey of Class 6 of 2,00,000 students and found 47% could not read Class 2 books, and 68% could not solve a simple 3 digit by 1 digit division. The government asked schools to voluntarily organise camps in about 550 schools out of 1000. Later, more camps for specific groups based on different classes will be organised. As a result, there were more students enrolling in the school and a 20% improvement in the reading results.
Empowering Leadership: Each principal of the school has given an annual budget of 5 lacs to 14 lacs that they can use without permission for the improvement of the school. The government has taken vision feedback from 1000+ principals. Principals are given free reign to hire a school manager for school maintenance. 1000 principals have been trained at IIM Lucknow and Ahmedabad. Some special teams have been trained from Cambridge, schools in Finland, and the US. This special leader is responsible for conducting training for principals named Jeevan Vidya Shivir.
Re-establishing Trust: Public Schools Teachers have given duties like filling up family records, getting the census done, making voter cards, getting the survey done, etc., and then they come to school to teach. The government frees teachers from this responsibility; teachers are given a free hand to plan their own monthly schedule and follow it; teachers are encouraged to improve the content of textbooks; teachers conduct workshops to develop the interest of students in a specific subject; and teachers publish support material called Pragati by the Directorate of Education. In Delhi, guest teachers come to teach at a low salary. These are good teachers; they were made permanent, and their salaries are the same as those of a permanent teacher. Each teacher has given students a laptop or tablet. Good staff room where the coffee machine and fridge are provided so that teachers are happy and relaxed in the staffroom.
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