IE : Lawyers volunteer to keep watch on MCD schools : Oct 23,2007

Lawyers volunteer to keep watch on MCD schools
Krishnadas Rajagopal
Posted online: Monday , October 22, 2007 at 12:00:00
Updated: Monday , October 22, 2007 at 01:54:09
New Delhi, October 21 Even the thought of keeping an eye on the 2,830 schools run by the Delhi Government may leave many with a splitting head, but 18 Delhi High Court lawyers have taken up the challenge.

These lawyers will form a core Education Volunteer Group set up by the Delhi High Court to monitor MCD schools functioning in 12 zones, and institutions run by the Directorate of Education in another nine districts.

The formation of the group is seen by the court as a maiden step towards introducing “community intervention in the running of government schools”, where over 20 lakh children, mostly drawn from poor financial backgrounds, study.

The step is also meant to improve the low turnout of students, especially at the primary level, as classes are hardly held due to large vacancies for trained teachers.

“Lakhs of children in Delhi are deprived of meaningful education despite lakhs of rupees being spent out of the public exchequer and valuable judicial time spent by the courts,” Justice Gita Mittal observed in a recent order.

The group was formed on the express desire of amicus curiae Ashok Agarwal, who submitted in court that the mounting number of complaints from students and parents was making it “impossible for him to single-handedly monitor the working of the schools”.

“We want the entire community to intervene and monitor the running of government and MCD schools, whether their children are studying there or not. As of now, I get complaints only from students’ parents. Leading citizens and professionals like doctors, lawyers and architects should come forward with new ideas for improving the health of children and infrastructure of these schools,” Agarwal told Newsline.

As of now, the 18 advocates deployed zonewise are empowered to visit the schools and “inspect as to whether the teaching is being done in a manner to impart education to children and basic amenities are made available to students”.

“The spirit and content of High Court orders from April 7, 2003, to the government has been focused on one simple aspect: Give the children the education due to them. It’s four years now, and the lapse continues,” Agarwal said.

The court directed the MCD Commissioner to appoint senior zonal officers to inspect each of these schools at least once a month on being informed that “no inspection is being conducted by MCD officers”.

The schools are “controlled” by government officials in the ranks of Deputy Education Officers, Assistant Education Officers and school inspectors.

Meanwhile, the government submitted that efforts were on to fill up the vacancies for 4,465 assistant teachers in MCD schools by the next academic year.

Publication : IE; Section : National Network; Pg : 12; Date : 23/10/07

URL : http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Lawyers-volunteer-to-keep-watch-on-MCD-schools/231030/