Students may gain complete education as BMC schools plan to extend up to Class X

In order to curb the dropout rate, civic education department is planning to extend Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools from Class 1 to 10 instead of Class 1 to Class 8. Teachers are being trained to learn and teach Secondary School Certificate (SSC) curriculum so that they can teach students of Class 10.

Currently, BMC schools provide elementary education (from Class 1 to 8) for free under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009. But now the education department plans to extend this education up to Class 10 so that they can provide complete basic education where a student can pass with a minimum degree of having completed SSC.

The aim is to reduce the dropout rate as students quit BMC schools midway and shift to private or staterun schools as these schools provide education up to Class 10. Mahesh Palkar, BMC education officer, said, “Students and parents have different reasons to drop out of schools. We cannot compel anyone or forcibly bring back students who have quit. We are trying to improve our quality of education in order to retain students.”

As per the RTE, BMC schools provide free and compulsory elementary education for children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. A senior officer of civic education department, said, “We are going a step ahead from the rules of RTE Act and extending this basic free education till Class 10 by when the students are generally 16-years-old. We do not want parents and students to go through the unnecessary hassle of finding another school, shifting and securing admissions.”

Lack of availability of teachers and space is a major issue faced by civic-run schools. The officer added, “Many of our teachers are not skilled enough to teach and manage Class 10 students. Also, Class 10 involves the final SSC board examination and we need professional experienced teachers to teach these students. We have now started training programmes for teachers so that they can manage these higher classes.” Along with training for teachers, the Mumbai Public School (MPS) model of BMC schools provides complete education from Kindergarten (KG) till Class 10. Recently, the Free Press Journal had reported the intake in MPS schools has doubled this year as more students want to join these schools to gain complete education.

Teachers are being trained to learn and teach Secondary School Certificate curriculum so that they can teach students of Class 10