Tablets are also being introduced, so teachers are able to interact with students’ parents online on performance-related issues. For this, the government plans to provide specific training to teaching staff as well as internet facility.
After a delay of more than two years, the Delhi government is rolling out a scheme to provide tablets to teachers in their schools. For now, the government is choosing one school from each district on a pilot basis. A circular, sent on July 19 to Deputy Directors of Education (DDE) of 13 districts, asks them to submit names of one school in their district, with details of the number of regular teachers and guest/contractual teachers present there.
“The Directorate of Education (DoE) is planning to provide tablets to all teachers working in Delhi government schools. Before implementing this project in each and every school, the DoE wishes to implement this project on a pilot level so its pros and cons may be studied,” read the circular.
This scheme has been in the pipeline since 2016. The aim is to help teachers record attendance digitally and tabulate exam marks. At the moment, attendance is manually recorded in registers and later uploaded on the system.
Tablets are also being introduced, so teachers are able to interact with students’ parents online on performance-related issues. For this, the government plans to provide specific training to teaching staff as well as internet facility.
While the project was announced in 2016, it did not take off that year or the next, when yet another announcement was made during the budget speech, with an allocation of about Rs 50 crore. In the recent outcome budget, the government said the matter had been referred to the cabinet.
Under the project, the government has to purchase more than 50,000 tablets for teachers in around 1,100 government schools. But a teacher of a school in Ramjas Lane said, “We have been hearing this for several years now, but nothing has happened. Hopefully this time it is different.”