Principals to face blame for low enrolment

North Corpn will penalise teachers if dropout rate increases in their schools

 In order to improve enrolment of students and to check the drop-out rate in primary schools, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to make the principals and teachers accountable for maintaining adequate enrolment of students.

The education committee of North Corporation has decided to amend the rules to fix the responsibility. A proposal has been passed by the committee which is likely to be tabled before the standing committee this week.

“In the primary schools where the number of students is inadequate, schools’ principals and teachers will be held accountable,” said a senior corporation official.
As per the proposal, the corporation would also incentivise the teachers of schools which perform well on these two counts, said officials. An assessment of enrolment numbers would be done every year for this purpose.

The officials said the decision has been taken due to varied responses which the schools receive from different areas, despite the corporation providing similar facilities in all the schools.

“The allotment of fund, maintaining the strength of teachers and other staff and other infrastructure facilities are done proportionately.

The discretionary fund of all principals is also same. Despite that, some of the schools are flooded with students while others are being underutilised. It means there is direct impact of the way the schools are being run. Therefore, we feel that fixing accountability of staff members would yield better results,” said Rekha Gupta, chairman, education committee.

The North Corporation has 788 primary schools, with a total enrolment of around 4.5 lakh students. However, the number of students varies from school to school and from locality to locality. The municipal schools largely cater to students belonging to lower strata of society.

However, the scramble for admission under the EWS category in private schools proves that even parents from the lower income group do not want their wards to study at municipal schools.  There are several schemes such as mid-day meal scheme to give impetus to enrolment in government schools. While such schemes have shown results, the quality of education in these schools is always under scanner.