'Bal Sunwai' reported in Hindustan Times

Delhi worst in setting up school committees

Shreya Roy Chowdhury TNN 

New Delhi: AAP government may not have had to recruit a group of volunteers to inspect government schools if School Management Committees — statutory bodies mandated by the Right to Education Act 2009 —had been formed and running properly. But Delhi has the worst record of all states for establishing SMCs; the guidelines for setting these were issued on March 25, 2013, six days before the deadline for the implementation of the Act. 

    As per the data gathered through District Information System for Education and compiled into ‘DISE Flash Statistics 2012-13,’ (released in November 2013), only 6.93% of Delhi’s government and aided schools had constituted SMCs by September 2012. In West Bengal, which had the second worst record, 51.05% schools had SMCs and in Goa, 51.83%. Once the guidelines were issued, SMCs were hastily assembled by schools and in nearly all cases, selection wasn’t through election. 

    Activists say education minister Manish Sisodia’s willingness to involve the general public in school-governance — SMCs were meant to do just that — is a positive sign but a set of volunteers is not the solution. “A parallel system won’t work in the long term,” says Rajiv Kumar of NGO Pardarshita who’s also SMC-member of three schools. “The government should focus on a mechanism for time-bound redress of 
grievances, on ensuring SMCs are formed through transparent and fair elections and that they meet regularly.” 

    The importance accorded to SMCs is evident from the fact that RTE Act leaves the formulation of School Development Plans (SDP) to them. 

    Toward the end of 2013, Pardarshita had filed a batch of questions under the RTI Act asking 16 schools to furnish minutes of SMC meetings and SDPs. Only three had met more than once; only one had met thrice; none had aproper SDP in place. “Some sent us minutes of meetings as SDPs,” says Kumar, “Funds are supposed to be released on the basis of SDPs but no mechanism has been devised to take them into consideration.” 

    SMCs, activists feel, have been designed to fail. Their weaknesses have been built into their structures. They say principals, being chairpersons, have randomly selected members, preferring ‘netas’. Parents, says Kumar, don’t want to stick their necks out and speak up. 

    Moreover, says JOSH’s Saurabh Sharma, “members don’t know what to do”. “They have the power only to recommend and there’s no guarantee the department will take action. They may inspect and register complaint but most often it only gets forwarded,” says Sharma. 

    The SMCs have also been left oddly vulnerable. “They may complain about the quality of mid-day meal with no action being taken but the moment kids fall ill, they’ll be blamed,” says Sharma. Make the recommendations binding, suggest both Kumar and Sharma, that way even members feel their views matter. 

WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN Composition of School Management Committee 
Proportionate representation to EWS/disadvantaged groups 
    One social worker involved in education and an elected representative of local authority 
    Principal will be member and ex-officio chairperson; vice-chairperson will be a parent 
    Three ‘special invitees’ – one teacher each from social science, science and maths 

FUNCTIONS Meet at least once in 2 months and prepare development plan Supervise working of school, utilization of grant Raise awareness in the community. 

Ensure teachers are not burdened with non-academic duties other than those specified in RTE 
Look into enrolment and continued attendance of neighbourhood kids 
Monitor maintenance of norms under RTE and alert government on violations 
Check identification and enrolment of disabled children. Make facilities available 
Identify children requiring special training and organize sessions.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Search&Source=Find&Key=CAP/2014/01/09/7/Ar00700%2Exml&CollName=TOI_DELHI_DAILY_2009&DOCID=1079261&Keyword=%28%3Cmany%3E%3Cstem%3ESMC%29&skin=TOINEW&AppName=1&PageLabel=7%20&ViewMode=HTML

Press release on 'bal sunwai' (public hearing by children) on Right to Education Act on 26 December 2013

More than 500 underprivileged children from various parts of the city gathered at D Block, New Seemapuri today to articulate their grievances against MCD schools and schools run by the Delhi government in a first-of-its-kind ‘bal sunwai’ (public hearing conducted by children). The theme of the sunwai was improper implementation of the Right to Education Act 2009 (RTE) that promises compulsory quality education to children between the age-group of 6-14 years that too free of cost, without any need of documents at the time admission along with provision of school uniform and  books from the side of the government.

In a thickly attended three-hour session, children brought out the difficulties faced by them at school and how helpless their situation gets when it comes to asking for their rights from authority figures, both in and outside school. Children came from places as far as Bawana, Kalkaji, Govindpuri, Kalyanpuri, Badli, Old Seemapuri, New Seemapuri, Rangpur Pahadi, Zafarabad and Sunder Nagari for the sunwai, many of them escorted by their parents.

Shahrukh, a resident of New Seemapuri, complained about how he became unconscious for a few hours and got temporary hearing loss when his teacher, who is a habituated to beating children with a stick, hit him for no reason. He is from the Government Boys Senior Secondary School, J & K Block, Dilshad Garden. Another student complained about how his teachers constantly spoke on mobile phones or just chit-chatted in the staff room instead of taking classes. “When we approach them and demand them to teach us, they shoe us away by saying that netagiri mat karo, chup chap class main baitho,” said Sohail. Teachers showering children with the choicest abuses at the slightest of pretext is another very common experience as shared by many students.

Another boy Sajid complained about his teacher, who prefers to get drunk and sit in the staff room instead of teaching. He is from Government Boys Senior Secondary School, New Seemapuri.  Arun from Government Boys Senior Secondary School Nand Nagari protested, “When we speak up and complain about poor infrastructure in writing, teachers discourage us by threatening us and our parents with cancelling our admission or reducing our grades, so what option do we have other than quietly embracing all the ill-treatment and deprivation of our rights?” 

Kanchan from Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, New Seemapuri, was angry about safety of girl students. “When we are travelling back from school, boys, who should be inside classrooms in the second shift, stand outside and tease us daily. When we complained to the principal about it, she brushed it aside as if it was a non-issue,” she said.

Chandni, another student from the same school, complained how the teacher made them run around for locating darris to sit on, many times for two periods out of eight! “We try to make arrangements for our own seating instead of studying at school. We have to sit on floor whether in cold winters, hot summers or wet monsoons. How many children can tolerate these hardships continuously?” she questioned. Shehzadi from Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, E Block, Nand Nagari exposed the level of difficulty faced by children at school when she shared how her teacher asked her to pick a broom and clean the toilets if she felt they were smelly and unusable.

Regarding admission-related issues, Samina, a parent, shared how she ran around for about two years to get her child admitted to school. “We are illiterate and don’t know our rights so the school takes advantage of that and makes unnecessary demands from us to find excuses to refuse our children education,” she said. Shahana, another parent, recollected how only one of her five children got admission to the government school after she ran from pillar to post, that too in class one when her daughter should have been in class five. Her admission was based on a relative’s residence proof despite RTE stipulating that no such documents were required for admission to any child before the age of 14 years.

 

Another boy Sohail from Bawana complained about how he was forced to dirty water from the school water cooler by his teacher that gave him typhoid. Another student shared how girls in her class have a harrowing time dealing with their teachers, who pull their hair routinely and call them ‘characterless’ based on their own mood swings. “It depresses us no end,” she said. 

In the case of children from New Seemapuri resettlement colony, which is the only minority district of Delhi, there are only four government schools they can approach, two schools under the MCD and two under the Delhi Government. This implies that on an average, 100-125 children get stifled into one classroom. “There is a very disproportionate distribution of resources in such a densely populated area. More schools must be provided along with basic infrastructural facilities like clean toilets, clean drinking water, classrooms that have desks and chairs and a committed teaching staff to fulfill the promise of quality education under the RTE,” said Ritu Mehra, co-founder of Pardarshita.

The sunwai was attended by Chairperson of National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Wajahat Habibullah, member of Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) Mamta Sahai, former advisor of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and founder of Artha-Astha Radhika Alkazi, Convener of National Right to Education Forum Amrish Rai and many other NGO representatives working on the issue of child rights.

In the opinion of Sahai, since DCPCR is a quasi-judicial body with restricted powers, probably a PIL would make authorities more responsible and accountable while discharging their duties towards children. “If children give us their complaints in writing, we would do everything we can to resolve them,” she promised. Rajiv, founder Pardarshita, however exclaimed that till the time a mechanism for time-bound case disposal at DCPCR is evolved, children’s right to education can never be ensured as precious time gets wasted in paper-work stretching for months, sometimes years.

Shri Habibullah, however sounded more positive. He said that Commissions do have powers of a civil court so cases regarding discrimination of specific communities including violation of their RTE should be brought to their notice and they would certainly take cognizance of the same.

In this government-run school, students chill

Around 1,500 students in a government-run school in north-east area of the city sit on bare ground, instead of benches of classrooms.
Sugandha Pathak, New Delhi, December 28, DHNS:

Open Education

Sarvodaya Kanya Vidayalaya located in New Seemapuri have two school shifts, morning and afternoon. While the morning classes (7am -12.30 pm) cater to girl students, the afternoon shift (1pm-6 pm) is attended by boys. “On some winter days, the fog is so thick that we can't see what the teacher is writing on the blackboard. Sitting on the freezing cold ground makes us sick. We are too scared to complain to the teacher. When the weather becomes unbearable, we are asked to sit inside till the sun comes out. During winters specially, teachers don't teach, they like to sit in the sun. Then there is this constant disturbance due to noise coming from classrooms,” said Mariyam, a standard 7 student of the school.

For the last three to four years, students say, the school has made it mandatory for students from standard 6th to 8th on the ground in the open.

According to NGO, Pardarshita, which is working towards creating awareness about Right To Information (RTI) Act and Right to Education (RTE) Act, the school which has 3,100 students (in the two shifts) have only 28 classes to accommodate them.

“Over 1,000 students in the morning shift and over 1,200 in the afternoon classes sit in the open. Last year, we sent a written complaint to Delhi Commission for Protection Of Child Rights (DCPCR) regarding the poor infrastructure in the school last year, and written complaints from parents and students were sent to DCPCR on July 17, 2010. We also sent a complaint letter to Directorate of Education (DoE), but the situation remains the same. We have requested for tents or sheds to be put up, if not pucca class rooms, but are yet to any response,” said Rajeev Kumar.

Though the city's winters are difficult, the summer season is even worse, with temperature rising to 40-44 degrees Celsius.

“One summer day, my daughter Sabreen came back from school and started vomiting after which she fell unconscious. Later, she told us that she and many students sit in the open and that there were quite a few cases of children fainting and falling terribly sick,” said Mohammad Naim, a labourer. His two daughters, Sabreen and Aasmeen study in the school. Sabreen is now in Class 7. She has attended classes in the open since Class 6.

The students also said that there are few classes that are locked as they serve as store rooms for the school.

“These locked rooms have lots of garbage, broken desks etc. We have asked teachers to open these rooms. We even volunteered to clean the rooms. But the teachers refuse to listen. In summers, we try to sit under the shade of trees on the ground, but it gets difficult during rain. The students are allowed to take shelter inside the class rooms for some time. With such to and fro, when do we study?” asks Sajid, who attends the afternoon shift. He is now in Class 10 and has spent considerable amount of time sitting in the open.

A few students tried to talk to the principal, but he had no answers. “The principal said I know you people sit out in the open, but nothing can be done right now about it,” said Kajal, a Class 11 student.

Delhi schools default on providing information on poor quota

ABHIMANYU SINGH  NEW DELHI | 18th Dec 2011

number of Delhi-based government-aided private schools, including Sanskriti, Delhi Police Public School and Jindal International School, have not provided any information to the Delhi government about the number of children they have admitted under the Economically Weaker Sections quota in the current year. Or they have provided the information considerably late. Delhi government's Department of Education is mandated to maintain a list of all government aided private schools, along with data on the fulfilment of the EWS quota, on its website, as per a notification issued by the Delhi government. The Right to Education Act stipulates that all government aided private schools should admit 25% children under the EWS quota every year at the entry level. In the case of Sanskriti, which is run by the wives of Central civil servants, the DoE released the list of children admitted under the EWS quota after a gap of almost six months. The last date for schools to provide the information was 30 July. This development comes after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the Central Information Commission intervened in the matter. Following a complaint by a city-based RTE activist, Ritu Mehra, the Central Information Commission took note that the schools had not provided the information despite the Delhi government directive ordering the Directorate of Education to collect and publish the data. The schools contested the CIC's order in the Delhi High Court. The court upheld the CIC's order. In spite of this, Sanskriti did not provide the required information. So the NCPCR had to intervene and ask the school to comply with the order. A source in the principal's office at Sanskriti said, "We had sent the information to the Directorate of Education. However, complete information could not be sent because of a technical error on our side about which we were not aware. After we got the Commission's letter, we sent the full information again." The authorities of the Delhi Police Public School and Jindal International School could not be contacted despite several attempts. RTE activist Ritu Mehra said that she was surprised that many of the children admitted in Sanskriti under the EWS quota came from far-off places. The school is situated in Chankyapuri. "Under the EWS quota it has admitted students who live in Gurgaon, Patel Nagar, IP Extension, Janakpuri and Palam Vihar. It will cost these students at least Rs 1,500 a month on conveyance. I wonder how they can come under the EWS quota," said Mehra. Some schools contested that they could not fulfil the quota for the current year because of lack of students. Raj Kamal, the head of administration at Green Valley International School, said that they were not approached by anyone seeking admission under the quota: "We are ready to give admission under the EWS quota. But we received no applications in this regard. How can we admit children in such a circumstance?" Some other schools claimed that they had sent the data to the Department of Education, but the latter failed to upload the same on its website. Parvati Ramachandran, the head of administration at Florence Public School, said, "We have fulfilled our quota and sent the list to DoE." Mehra said that the schools employ delaying tactics in order to hide the fact that they have not fulfilled the quota. "It is easy to say that they have fulfilled the quota when they might not have done so. They also wilfully delay sending the information so that it is not uploaded on time," said Mehra.

MCD schools flout RTE norms

Some classrooms have more than 100 children, only one teacher

Jasleen Kaur | New Delhi | December 21 2011

 

The schools of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) are not adhering to the norms of the Right to Education Act (RTE) Act. Information gathered through RTI queries reveals that many of these schools do not meet the prescribed pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) norms mandated by the law and there is more than one class being conducted from the same room.

In MCD School New Seema Puri 1, four sections of class nursery with more than 130 children sit in the same room, room number six, with just two teachers. And the other two sections of the same class with total 70 children sit in class room number five with just one teacher. Not just there are more children in a single classroom but there are also fewer teachers. As the RTE Act says that in a primary school, for 200 children there should be at least five teachers.

Similarly, in MCD School New Seema Puri 2,120 children of two sections of class two sit in the same room with a single teacher. And two sections of class four with total 120 children sit in the same room with just one teacher. This problem is common in most of the MCD schools in the district.

Rajiv Kumar from Pardarshita, which filed the RTI, says that MCD has claimed that it has maintained the PTR in its schools. “We filed the RTI for 25 MCD schools but we got information for 20. The data is surprising. We can just imagine how so many children must be studying in a single classroom with just one teacher,” he adds.

In some other schools, where children of one section sit in one room, the average strength is more than what is prescribed in the law. The average strength in five sections of class five of MCD School Nand Nagri 0-1 is 46, whereas in Nandnagri 0-2, the average strength in class five is 54 and in class three it is 63.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, which was implemented in 2010, stipulates a variety of norms that all schools must adhere to. One of the most important aspects is the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR). The law prescribes a PTR of 30 or less for schools with less than 200 enrolled students and 40 for schools with greater enrollment.

Include pension under e-SLA, say NGOs

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Include-pension-under-e-SLA-say-NGOs/Article1-747380.aspx

Buoyed by the latest government decision promising time-bound delivery of services under the e-Service Level Agreement (e-SLA), NGOs working for senior citizens have demanded that ‘old age pension’ be included under its ambit. “Hundreds of Delhi’s destitute and poor older persons, eligible for old age pension and other social assistance services, cannot avail these due to non-availability of specific instructions to authorities concerned and non-cooperation from government departments,” said Himanshu Rath of NGO Agewell India.

Many older persons who have finally succeeded in filing their applications have no idea about the status of their applications for old age pension. “So we appeal to the Delhi government to include the process of old age pension under the e-SLA project,” he said.

“There are other problems too which need to be brought under e-SLA,” said Ritu Mehra, from NGO Pardarshita. “Several times, it has come to our notice that a person stops getting pension after two consecutive years of receiving it. The e-SLA scheme can bring in accountability for all such problems,” Mehra added.

How a 'rich' school tagged poor students in Delhi

IANS Aug 14, 2011, 05.53pm IST

NEW DELHI: St. Andrews Scots Senior Secondary School, a posh school in east Delhi, boasts of "providing value-based education" to its students but is under the scanner of a child rights panel - for tagging poor students.

The school admits poor students under the legally bound 10 percent freeship quota - fee waiver - for economically disadvantaged children.

But the students, their parents and child rights activists allege that the school discriminates against poor kids, profiles them on the basis of their socio-economic status and makes them wear tags showing they have been admitted under the quota.

The children are made to wear an ink mark "F/S", denoting freeship, on their shirt collars to distinguish them from the rest of the children.

Parents of some of the poor students approached NGO Pardarshita that helped in filing a complaint with the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR). As soon as the rights panel started probing the matter in May and issued notice to the school, the tagging system was immediately done away with.

"We issued notice to the school after we received a complaint that the EWS (economically weaker section) students were discriminated by teachers. The school has given its explanations which were unconvincing," DCPCR chairman Amod Kanth said. "The matter is under probe. The categorizing of students is illegal," said Kanth.

Officials of Pardarshita allege that some of the students were even segregated and kept in a separate room during school hours.

Ritu Mehra of Pardarshita said her organization came to know about the discriminatory treatment after three of the children and their parents came forward and sought help.

The three children stay in the Indira Camp in east Delhi.

She said all the children from Class 1 to 5 admitted under the quota were forced to sit on the floor and not even allowed to use the school toilets.

Suman, a resident of Indira Camp in east Delhi, has her daughter in preparatory class of the school. She has a more shocking story to share.

"My daughter was not allowed to interact with other kids for around one and a half months because they thought she stinks. The school tagged her 'F/S' on her uniform," Suman said.

She said that her daughter was even bribed by school authorities to lie before the rights panel if its officials come for inspection. "They gave chocolates to kids to lure them and promised a picnic if they don't complain and lie before the investigating officers," said Suman.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-14/delhi/29886514_1_rights-panel-child-rights-freeship-quota

'Rs 1,000 instead of grain terrible idea'- HT report

HT Correspondents

New Delhi, May 19, 2011

A number of NGOs have opposed the Delhi government's proposal of giving Rs 1,000 cash per family per month instead of subsidised foodgrains under the Public Distribution System (PDS). A pilot project for approximately 100 families is being run in Raghubir Nagar in west Delhi wherein instead of the subsidised grain, the government is doling out Rs 1,000 in cash.

NGOs working with poor people, however, are aghast at the idea. Ritu Mehra of Pardarshita, said, "The very concept is wrong. Rs 1,000 can hardly fetch the poor the quantity of grain they need from the open market today. Add inflation, and what would you get four years later?"

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had convened a meeting with representatives of several NGOs on Wednesday, wherein she reportedly said the step was being taken at the behest of Planning Commission.

Parivartan’s Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said, "PDS can make a difference in the life of poor people. PDS is critical for country's food economy. It directly affects food procurement and, in turn stabilises food prices."

Santosh Koli from NGO Parivartan narrated how when her team visited the Raghubir Nagar area on May 5, they were stopped by the authorities.

Kejriwal and Koli, in a press conference on Thursday, alleged, "Dikshit is hell bent on the implementation of cash in lieu of subsidy. She has also threatened to arrest anybody who intervened in the government procedure."

The chief minister, in turn, thought it was too premature to pass a judgement on the exercise. "It is just a pilot project—it is experimental," Dikshit told HT. She, however, refused to comment on any of Parivartan's allegations.

Haroon Yusuf, Delhi's food and supplies minister, only said, "This is a pilot project by United Nations Development Programme."

The NGOs have now formed a 'Ration Vyavastha Sudhar Abhiyan' front and have been stressing on the need to carry out a detailed survey to know what the people want and a detailed debate on the issue.

My association with Pardarshita

I have known Rajivji since about five years now. That time, I was working with The Times of India and wanted to write a story on the utility of RTI in the life of common man. Travelling to Seemapuri (East Delhi) was a difficult proposition that time because there was no connectivity through metro, unlike today. So a long bus ride from ITO, followed by enquiries here and there, got me straight to Parivartan's small but famous one-room office. I remember there was one computer tucked away in a corner of a big room. About 4-5 people worked around it, sometimes in notebooks, sometimes on the desktop. I distinctly remember one of them as a young girl, who later told me someone had put a blade in her neck because she wouldn't stop venturing out and working for the community... These were some of the first impressions of the people I was going to associate with a lot more in the future.

So, after interviewing some people who benefitted from RTIs that Parivartan helped them file, like someone got their voter I-card, someone could afford to get their kid in school, that story did finally come out. It was hugely appreciated and became my first, and most memorable byline (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDUvMDgvMTcjQXIwMDIwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom).

Since then, whenever possible, we have collaborated on many occasions, even though Rajivji and few others now call themselves members of an offshoot organisation- Pardarshita. No matter what they call themselves, these people and their relentless fight against a corrupt system remains unwavered.

One time, we went for a survey of schools run by the Delhi Government in the South Delhi Zone to contrast ground realities there with government schools of East Delhi, more specifically, to inspect whether the school notice boards displayed information about money due to students of EWS quota, whether they were getting free books and uniforms as per the Central Information Commission (CIC) order etc. In East Delhi, I was told, there may not even be a concrete school building, even through papers would indicate a properly running school! 'Many times,' my friend Ritu added, 'a panic attack would grip school administration a day before inspection by some higher-ups. School staff would ensure that flower pots appeared outside the main gate, descrepit roofs got a fan or two, maybe a light bulb if lucky, to pass off as a 'fully' functional government school!' In South Delhi, the state of  government schools was much better than in East Delhi, at least at a cursory glance. Of the 4-5 schools we inspected that day, most children said they were getting free uniforms and books or at least partly, while the rest 'was due' in future. As far as display of information was concerned, at least three schools displayed some information, though not all of it and that too, scribbled on a blackboard with chalk instead of beign displayed on hard boards as per the CIC order.

Anyway, what also struck me most, other than the scope for corruption worth crores of rupees by school administrations, in one school, the principal authoritatively called out to few senior girls, probably the class monitors, to serve us biscuits and tea, almost like it was part of their job as a student. I was left wondering what they were teaching their girls anyway. That hypothetically, even if all schools, everywhere, get every piece of physical infrastructure in place, what if every poor student got his/her due towards attaining a school degree, what if teachers start attending school and teaching delligently, does it mean they’ll churn out ‘thinkers’ of tomorrow? Agreed, it’s important to have a room to teach in, benches to sit on and blackboards to write on, water, electricity etc, besides children who can afford to sit in those classes, with books to read, but all this for what? In the Indian education system, Indians are being ‘trained’, not ‘educated,’ a big lesson from 3-Idiots, if you have seen the film.

The Times of India 6 January 2008

The Times of Iidia 18 December 2007

Hindustan Times 13 March 2008

The Times of Iidia

Hindustan Times 7 January 2010

http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/ArticleImage.aspx?article=07_01_2010_007_002&mode=undefined

The Times of Iidia 1 January 2010

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/CIC-order-for-making-PDS-system-transparent/articleshow/5400975.cms

Indian Express 19 March 2008

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/tighter-admission-norms-to-ensure-poor-children-get-into-schools/286060/