GOVT TO ENHANCE TRAINING FOR TEACHERS AND CUT DROPOUT RATES: SISODIA

NEW DELHI: The first seven-day international education conference held by the Delhi government concluded on Sunday with deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia announcing that moving forward, the state government would work on enhanced teacher training, strengthening school management committees (SMCS), working on an interactive curriculum, and cutting dropout rates.

“We are already working on forming a new curriculum and new state board. We also want to examine students graduating from our schools and see what their thoughts are on caste, creed, religion, gender biases, corruption, honest governance and environmental issues. After working on foundation, the question is on how to work on the mindset of students,” the education minister said.

While referring to the issue of students dropping out, Sisodia said, “Struggling children who leave the system to pick up jobs outside is where we need to figure out how skill training can come into play, and how we can provide support to them.”

The week-long conference saw 22 education experts from India and other countries including the United Kingdom, USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, and Canada. The final day of the conference also saw Andhra Pradesh education minister Audimulapu Suresh highlighting reforms initiated by their government and extending an invitation to the Delhi education team to visit Andhra Pradesh.

Sisodia said, “Education ministers from all states should work together to create better systems for India. I would like to learn from Andhra Pradesh on how regulation and autonomy manifest on the ground through state-level legislation, especially the reformed structure of Anganwadi workers.”

Some of the key takeaways from the conference included the link between political will and education reforms, building inclusive administrative tools to support teacher training, etc.