Sisodia launches results of Mission Buniyaad

At times when students of Government schools in other parts of country are struggling hard to come to terms with "reading ability" corresponding to their respective classes  the students of Delhi Government run schools have shown remarkable improvement in their ability to read textbooks by 15 percent to that of last year courtesy "Mission Buniyaad" of Delhi Government.

The Delhi Government in its official statement mentioned that about 1.18 lakh (15 per cent) students are now capable of reading textbooks.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia released the findings of the scheme on Monday, which suggested that the ability of children in these classes to read their textbooks has improved.  Sisodia, also the education minister of Delhi, said that the Directorate of Education has decided to extend the mission until July.

 A new report reveals that 63 per cent of children in classes 3-9 are now able read their textbooks.

Only 48 per cent students in those classes were able to read their textbooks last year, according to the National Achievement Survey 2017 published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

Following the survey, the AAP government in April launched the 'Mission Buniyaad' scheme with an aim to ensure that all children of classes 3-9 are able to read, write and solve basic mathematics problems.

 "Before the campaign, about 48 per cent students in classes 3-9 of Delhi government schools could read their textbook, now it is 63 per cent. Similarly, the ability to solve division has gone up from 54 per cent to 71 per cent," according to the new findings documented in the report. About 52 per cent students enrolled in classes 3-9 of Delhi government schools formed the target group of the mission. In terms of absolute number, this is about 4.21 lakh.

"Out of these children, about 1.18 lakh (28 per cent of the target group) learnt to read their textbooks and about 1.4 lakh (38 per cent of the target group) learnt to solve division problems of Maths," the report added.

Importantly, the programme was launched in April and special summer classes arranged with appropriate student- teacher ratio to achieve the aim to make every Delhi government school student capable of reading and writing and developed communication skills through practical learning.   From class III to IX are the target of this mission.

"The immediate reason of launching "Mission Buniyaad" was the National Achievement Survey 2017 report which pointed that large proportion of government school students of classes 3, 5 and 8 are way below their grade level", a  statement issued by the Delhi Government stated.

"Delhi Government through "Chunauti 2018" has been attempting to address the issue of learning deficit from classes 6 onwards. Chunauti has not only improved the baseline but has also created an environment in school where teachers now also focus on students sitting on the last bench", Sisodia said.

However, as NAS 2017 pointed, huge backlog gets created in the Primary grades itself and that needs to be plugged. The three Municipal Corporations and New Delhi Municipal Council too joined the Mission Buniyaad campaign on the invitation of the Deputy Chief Minister and implemented it in April and May, and in some case till mid June.