Bringing MCD schools under Delhi Govt mulled

New Delhi, Mar 27: Delhi Education Minister Arwinder Singh Lovely today said a policy decision on bringing MCD schools under the State administration, following a high court ruling in this regard, was yet to be taken.

''The Delhi Government has no problem in taking up administration of the MCD schools. However, a policy decision in this regard is yet to be taken by the state government,''Mr Lovely said at a joint press conference with president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress committee Rambabu Sharma here.

Addressing the press meet, Mr Lovely, listing the achievements of the Congress in the last five years in the field of education, said,''our endeavour has been to bring about improvement of quality of education in Delhi. In fact, our aim is to ensure that all children in Delhi recieve good school education.'' He said 98 new schools were opened in the last eight years while 141 were upgraded. Further, the state Government had taken several steps to encourage enrolment in government schools like providing free uniform and books.

''As a result of the steps taken by the government, the drop out rate of students reduced to 5.9 per cent, from 42.8 per cent during the BJP rule,''he said.

Further, he said, there had been a marked improvement in pass percentage during the Congress role. While the Class ten pass percentage rose from 32.8 during BJP rule, to 59.73 during the Congress rule while the pass percentage for class 12 rose from 63.45 per cent to 78.05 per cent.

Mr Lovely said plans were afoot to start many special schools for disadvantaged sections of society like street children and the physically challenged, as part of the state Government's endeavour to ensure education for all.

He said a proposal to provide free cycles to girl students hailing from SC/ST was also under consideration of the state Government.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sharma said improvement in the quality of education would be among the salient features of the Congress manifesto for the MCD polls.

UNI