In a first for the country, Delhi schools to be ranked on cleanliness, teaching, safety

For schools in the capital, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) will be the nodal agency. (Express Photo/Representational)

On the lines of the Ofsted school ratings in the United Kingdom, public and private schools in the capital are set to be ranked soon - on parameters such as cleanliness, quality of teaching, school infrastructure and safety.  "This kind of rating is being developed to enable parents to make informed choices about schools they would pick for their children. The entire idea is not to rank schools as first or second, but it could be in the form of grades with the intent to help parents," said Atishi Marlena, advisor to Education Minister Manish Sisodia.

The need to have such ratings was also discussed during the meeting of the Delhi State Education Council on Wednesday. The ratings will be a first for the country, and will be modelled closely on the lines of the Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills) ratings, published annually in the UK.

Ofsted inspects schools and submits its reports to the Parliament, stating the effectiveness of the school and also suggesting recommendations to improve educational institutions that get an adverse report. Schools are ranked as outstanding, good, satisfactory and inadequate. Those with outstanding or good rating are not inspected for the next five years.

For schools in the capital, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) will be the nodal agency. "Since DCPCR has the mandate to look into implementation of the Right to Education Act 2009, it was decided to make them the nodal agency. Government, as a provider of education, cannot be doing so," said Marlena.

The government believes the system could help parents during the annual nursery admission rush. Private schools, meanwhile, said the system could be beneficial if all schools are rated on same parameters. "If independent agencies are rating the schools and both government and private schools are being rated on the same aspects, it is a great idea. The idea of the rating should be to understand the quality of education being imparted, the facilities and other aspects," said S K Bhattacharya, chairman of the Action Committee, an umbrella body of private schools.