Page 74 - EW August 2025

Special Report

elusive. Recent surveys and internal
assessments indicate that only a mi-
nority of students in Delhi’s govern-
ment schools have attained basic lit-
eracy and numeracy benchmarks by
the end of their primary years. Mass
failures and dropouts before class IX,
underqualified ‘guest’ teachers, and
huge quality gaps between flagship
“model” schools and ordinary schools
persist.
“The 8,300 new classrooms that
the AAP government constructed
during three terms translates into 100
new schools, a 10 percent addition to
the total number. The remainder have
not improved,” says a principal of a
non-showcased school. Gupta: general apathy Shah: institutionalisation failure
M OREOVER, SEVERAL curricula, international training, pa- government. Teachers complained

rental engagement drives, remedial
that there were new schemes every
studies conducted dur-
ing the AAP govern-
and Classroom Library initiatives. But
novations — almost simultaneously.
ment’s rule over Delhi programs, and attention-grabbing in- day, such as the Happiness curriculum
indicate that despite the government’s For an already overstretched sys- they were not successful because they
numerous headline-grabbing initia- tem, this rapid-fire sequence proved were so frequent, leading to lack of
tives such as sending government overwhelming. Principals, teach- motivation among students, teachers
school principals to Finland and Sin- ers, and administrators struggled and school administrators.”
gapore for leadership training, stu- to absorb each new initiative before This viewpoint is seconded by Dr.
dents’ learning outcomes didn’t im- the next one landed, juggling con- Parth Shah, a former professor of
prove significantly, if at all. stant mandates, shifting targets, and political economy at University of
For instance, in the National mounting paperwork. Rather than Michigan (USA) and founder-presi-
Achievement Survey (NAS) conducted building steady, sustainable improve- dent of Centre for Civil Society (CCS),
by the Union education ministry for ment, the deluge of reforms left school Delhi, the highly reputed K-12 educa-
classes III, V, VIII and X countrywide managements scrambling to keep up
in 2017 and 2021, only children in — unable to fully implement, inter-
class III showed above national av- nalise, or benefit from an initiative Timeline of AAP’s education re-
erage proficiency gains. Moreover, before yet another arrived. In the form overload
a recent 2025 NCERT countrywide process, the ambition to revolution- 2016: Chunauti mission targets
survey of children in classes III, VI ise education often collided with the foundational learning gaps.
and IX, shows that class III children realities on the ground, ratifying that 2017-18: Massive summer “mission-
indicated above national average pro- true transformation demands not just mode” learning camps, Mission
ficiency, class VI lagged behind and bold ideas, but also patience, focus Buniyaad, new subject curricula,
class IX exhibited modest improve- and sustained commitment to inno- and burst of teacher training pro-
ment, although a State Level Achieve- vation inside every classroom. grammes.
ment Survey (SLAS) 2025 shows bet- Comments Mohini Gupta, an 2018-19: Happiness Curriculum, Pra-
ter learning outcomes. These surveys alumna of Oxford University (UK) and gati workbooks launched; further
and studies indicate a wide gap be- currently postdoctoral fellow at the rounds of curriculum reform.
tween investment, propaganda and Danish School of Education, Aarhus 2020-22: Pandemic closures, high-
outcomes. University (Denmark), who research- velocity digital projects, remote and
Evidence is also emerging that in es educational anthropology: “While catch-up programs.
its enthusiasm to overhaul a broken conducting my research in Delhi, I 2023-24: Focus on foundational
system and prove that government noticed high student absenteeism, literacy and numeracy in wake of
schools can attain private school stan- low teacher motivation and general learning losses (NIPUN Bharat,
dards in short order, AAP unleashed a apathy in government schools towards nationwide FLN push).
barrage of overlapping reforms — new new schemes introduced by the AAP

74 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2025