Buniyaad scripting literary goals: Reading skills in Delhi's kids near 100 per cent

NEW DELHI:  An impressive 88 per cent of children in classes III to V in DoE schools and 78 per cent children of MCD schools are able to read some words, going by the recent data shared by the state education authorities. In classes VI to IX, 90 per cent students are able to read small paragraphs now.

While discussing the report on Mission Buniyaad amid the orientation programme held on Tuesday, the Director of Education, GNCTD, Himanshu Gupta, said, “DoE and MCD’s education authorities have worked hard to bring many children up to grade-appropriate level. Now, we are also focusing on strengthening primary education, significantly because 85 per cent of brain development in children happens till the age of six years.”

The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) of Delhi held a joint orientation programme on Mission Buniyaad for 2,700 heads of government schools of Delhi under Directorate of Education (DoE) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The orientation was led by MCD Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti and Secretary (Education) Ashok Kumar.

Speaking to the head of schools, the MCD commissioner said, “A total of 26 lakh children studying in DoE and MCD schools are the future of Delhi. With the introduction of Mission Buniyaad in all government schools we have seen 20-30 per cent improvement in the learning levels, which is just the first milestone.”

“Let us resolve that 100 per cent of the children of our schools can read before October. This is not impossible, we just need to engage and ensure that we provide our best to our students. We will run Mission Buniyaad till we achieve 100 per cent results. Learning gap has widened beyond limits during COVID and Mission Buniyaad can help us fill that significantly,” said the MCD commissioner.

The main aim of the orientation was to discuss the achievements and learnings from the previous phase of Mission Buniyaad, held between April and June, and draw a roadmap to further strengthen the foundational learning skills of government school students through the said programme.