NEW DELHI: Delhi Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday blamed the municipal corporations for problems in providing online learning. He said the government is unable to contact many students in South Zone as the civic authority did not update their details before transferring them to Delhi government schools.
The education minister was addressing teachers and parents at the Kasturba Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya (KGSBV) school in Chirag Enclave during a review meeting of the online and semi-online education system. Talking about the Delhi government’s efforts to reach every student in the time of the Covid pandemic, Sisodia said that students who did not have online resources are being contacted through phone calls.
The government has started a semi-online pattern for students who do not have computers, laptops, or smartphones. The students are provided study material manually.
“A semi-online pattern was introduced for them and the material was given. About 83 percent students of South Zone are connected with us through online and semi-online classes. But the remaining 17 per cent of the children have not yet been contacted. Nearly 35 per cent children from Class 6 in this zone are not in contact as they are mostly those who joined a government school from MCD schools. Either their addresses changed or they changed their number and MCD schools did not update it before transferring them,” he said.
He added that students are facing huge losses due to the ongoing pandemic. The kind of exposure and growth a child gets at school cannot be compensated by an online medium. Our motive is to reduce the quantum of the loss, he said.
“I am also a father. My son is also confined to a room with a laptop. The situation is not adequate for children’s development but our taget is to keep the learning process moving,” Sisodia said.
Rs 98.35 crore released for teachers’ salary, government to High Court
Delhi government has released Rs 98.35 crore to North Delhi Municipal Corporation for paying salaries to 9,000 teachers for the months of July and August, the Delhi High court was informed on Tuesday. It has permitted the civic body to utilise the unspent balance of Rs 1,807.10 lakh of previous year for the purpose of paying salaries. The court was hearing a suo motu PIL on the disbursement of unpaid salaries of teachers employed in schools run by the NrDMC.