RTE Act Imbroglio

With an education budget of Rs.10,690 crore in fiscal 2016-17, the highest ever allocated by any government of Delhi state which includes the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government — elected to power in February 2015 with a sweeping majority — raised hopes of radical changes in Delhi’s 924 government schools. Unfortunately, the AAP government has conspicuously failed to bring about the promised change in the state’s public education system.

- Swati Roy

On the contrary, the Delhi high court has admitted a PIL (public interest litigation) writ against an education programme of the state government’s Directorate of Education titled Chunauti (‘Challenge’) 2018.

Chunauti 2018 was launched on June 29 to test and support students of classes VI-IX to improve the rock-bottom pass percentage of government school children, half of whom fail the school-leaving class X exam of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). “The idea behind Chunauti 2018 is that by the year 2018, all students enrolled in class IX in the academic year 2016-2017, regardless of their learning levels at this point, will be trained and mentored to successfully appear for class X examinations in 2018. No child will be left behind,” said Manish Sisodia, state minister for education and deputy chief minister of Delhi, speaking on the occasion.