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Glum schools may glee again

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MAY 29. Marred by the deeds of its former Chairman, Satbir Singh, and his deputy, Sharda Jain, the Education Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi -- which had virtually come to a standstill recently -- is finally back on track. The latter is now in Tihar Jail on the charge of murder of her colleague, Atma Ram Gupta, last year.

Responsible for imparting primary education to more than ten lakh children -- an overwhelming majority of whom come from weaker sections of society -- in about 1,900 schools through 18,000 teachers, the MCD's Education Department was virtually in a mess all these months. Right in the heart of the Capital there are MCD-run schools in tents some of which are only a few km away from Parliament. And one-fourth of its primary schools do not have access to safe drinking water and toilets while thousands of students do not have any teachers.

But this messy state of affairs in the MCD's Education Department will soon be a thing of the past if the initiatives taken by its new Chairman, Farhad Suri, start yielding results. In his very first meeting with officials, Mr. Suri -- a Congress Councillor from Nizamuddin -- directed that there should be no transfer of teachers during the academic session. Frequent transfers under political pressure had been the order of the day in this department. He is also understood to have issued directions that appointment of teachers on contract, if any, should be made before the reopening of schools after summer vacation. During the last academic session, such teachers were appointed in February thus seriously affecting studies.

Setting aside all convention, Mr. Suri invited the Leader of the Opposition in the MCD, Subhash Arya, to attend a meeting on the mid-day meal scheme, an issue which had become controversial during the tenure of Mr. Singh for his alleged corrupt practices. "This shows Mr. Suri is honest and wants to ensure that mid-day is distributed among the students,'' Mr. Arya observed.

Abiding by the Supreme Court verdict to distribute cooked food to students, Mr. Suri -- within a fortnight of his taking over -- has ensured that it is distributed to among 15 lakh students of 273 MCD schools as a pilot project from day-one. Thirty non-governmental organisations, resident welfare associations and caterers have been shortlisted for the purpose. He has ensured that students get hygienic food as per the prescribed standards and the suppliers receive timely payment. As for the rest of MCD schools, orders for processed food is to be placed before June 15 to ensure that students get it from day one.

If Mr. Suri has his way, it would be after a long gap that students might well get textbooks in the first week after the summer vacation. Students of Tamil, Bengali and Urdu too would get their textbooks.

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