NCERT COMMITTEE TO IMPLEMENT RTE IN INDIAN CAPITAL

Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee to Develop Policy Framework to Enable the Implementation of RTE Act in Schools in NCT of Delhi


The NCERT has constituted a Committee to develop a policy framework to enable the implementation of RTE act in schools in NCT of Delhi. It consists of the following members.

Sri Ashok Agarwal, Legal Expert - Chairperson
Prof. Nalini Juneja, NUEPA - Member
Prof. N. Panchapakesan - Member
Dr. Naseem Siddiqui - Member
Smt. Indira Yadav, Pratham Delhi - Member
Dr. C. Suvasini, Miranda House - Member
Dr. Geeta Dharmarajan, Katha - Member
Dr. Shalini Advani - Member
Mrs Leena Ratti, Teacher, MCD School - Member
Dr. N.K. Gupta, NCERT - Member
Prof. A.K. Srivastava - Convener


The first meeting of the Committee was held on 8th January 2010 at NCERT, New Delhi. It was attended by Prof. Krishna Kumar, Director NCERT, Sri Ashok Agarwal, Prof. Nalini Juneja, Prof. N. Panchapakesan, Smt. Indira Yadav, Dr Geeta Dharmarajan, Mrs. Leena Ratti, and Prof. A.K. Srivastava.


The members discussed in detail the various issues. It was agreed that instead of focussing on MCD schools alone, the committee should attend to the issue of availability of equitable primary education to every child in Delhi. It should examine the capacity of the schools run by MCD, NDMC, Delhi Administration, Delhi Cantonment Board (excluding private schools) with regard to their preparedness to grapple the challenges posed by RTE act for providing quality education to children from grade 1 to grade 8. This is important as within the six months of the notification of RTE Act, the state governments will be required to fulfil this mandate. In view of this the Committee suggested to modify the earlier title of the programme—Vertical Expansion of MCD’s Primary Schools to Secondary and Senior Secondary Stages: Development of a Policy Framework.


The revised title of the programme is as under:


Development of a Policy Framework to Enable the Implementation of
RTE Act in Schools in NCT of Delhi.


The revised objectives of the programme are given below.


To examine the arrangements for school education in NCT of Delhi;
To examine the capacity of the MCD/ Delhi Government to meet the challenges presented by RTE Act with a focus on quality education; and

To recommend areas of research on appropriate delivery of facilities in Delhi.

Each objective requires a number of tasks to be accomplished by the Committee. The details of the tasks with the assignment of responsibility to the members are given below.

Objective No.
Task
Responsibility assigned to

1 To examine the arrangements for school education in NCTD

(a) Preparation of profile of children in Delhi
Prof. Nalini Juneja


(b) Conditions of life of children in Delhi with reference to their
Educational background of parents/ family
Economic profile
Availability of basic amenities
Family conditions
Street/ slum children
Tuition

(c) Structure of Education Department of MCD, Delhi Government, NDMC, DCB

2 To examine the capacity of the MCD/ Delhi Government to meet the challenges presented by RTE Act with a focus on quality education

(a) Vision of school education with reference to:
Decisions taken
Policy making

(b) RTE and MDM

(c) Teachers, with reference to Their status Recruitment Inservice training Deployment
opportunities for professional growth

Prof. N. Panchapakesan


(d) Flow of funds General, Budget SSA, Projects

Smt. Indira Yadav


(e) Administrative set-up for Training Research & Innovation


(f) Building and Infrastructure Maintenance Sanitation and cleaning

Mrs Leena Ratti


(g) Training and Research facilities to teachers and clerical support

Mrs Leena Ratti

(h) Interlinkages between MCD and other set ups

(i) Accountability of the SchoolTeachers

(j) Quality issues in schools

Dr Geeta Dharamrajan

3. To recommend areas of research on appropriate delivery of facilities in Delhi



It was decided that the second meeting of the Committee will be held on 22nd January 2010 at 2.00 PM in NCERT to discuss the draft prepared by the members.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to all the members.




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