The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will soon add classes VI-VIII to its schools. At present, the municipal schools only run primary schools, which have classes from nursery to Class V. The proposal was presented and passed before the Standing Committee of the SDMC on Monday.
The panel’s chairperson, Bhupender Gupta, proposed that the civic body would run a pilot project wherein the classes would be started in one school of each of the four zones under the corporation from the next academic session.
Enough resources
“We have the infrastructure in our schools to accommodate these extra classes. The only requirement would be additional teachers. But with the resources we have, we can manage to hire a few more teachers,” said Mr. Gupta.
The names of the schools where the new classes will be added to are yet to be decided and the file will be presented before the House in the next meeting.
“We inspected the schools in our area and saw that we will need 25-30 classrooms in each school for running these additional classes and there is space available within the existing buildings. This will ensure that our students do not have to go through the trouble of changing schools after Class V. We will be able to groom the children till their basics are developed,” he said.
‘Agreement violated’
In an agreement between the Delhi government and the then unified Municipal Corporation in 1974, it was stated that the civic bodies would be responsible for primary education while the State government will take over higher education.
However, this agreement was violated when the Delhi government started running primary schools, starting from nursery to Class XII.
“If they can take over our territory then why can’t we? The schools under Delhi government barely have the infrastructure to provide ‘Sarva Shiksha’. This is not a move to compete with the government or to make a point. But, when we can provide good quality education to our students then why not?” Mr. Gupta said.
