Delhi wants upgrade its secondary schools and middle schools into senior secondary school and secondary schools respectively. A proposal in this regard has been mooted during the cabinet meeting of Delhi Government. At present there are 191 secondary schools and 34 middle schools in the city apart from 701 senior secondary schools and 19 Pratibha Vidyalayas.
The city cabinet has today decided to implement a centrally sponsored scheme – Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) in Delhi. According to the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit the GER for Delhi is 83% for class-IX as per the provisional data available for 2008-09 but the city government will strive hard to achieve cent percent GER by the end of 11th Five Year Plan to become a role model for other states/Union Territories. The Cabinet has also given its nod for setting up of an institutional framework to implement RMSA. A state mission on RMSA will be constituted under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister. Further an Executive Committee under the Chairmanship of Principal Secretary (Education) will be constituted.
It has also been decided to convert the existing Vidyalaya Kalyan Samiti of each school as School Management and Development Committee

Subject related stress is still a big issue among the students of 10th and 12th. CBSE Counseling unit has been receiving maximum number of calls related to the subject related matters especially for Mathematic, Science and Social Sciences. When fachcha.com contacted CBSE counseling unit its counselor though denied to be identified but said that they are receiving maximum number of calls for subject related issues and how to achieve maximum marks in their exams.
“XIIth students are worried about subjects like Mathematics and Science while students of Xth are concerned about social sciences too apart from Mathematics and Science subjects”, told a counselor of CBSE to fachcha.com identifying herself as a ‘representative of CBSE’. “Students are okay with language papers and hardly anyone needs any counseling for language papers”, she said.
Other queries are related to time management, roll numbers, learning process also coming from the students as well as their students, according to another counselor. CBSE is also receiving calls related to grading system and its conversion into numeric system and abolition of 10th board examinations.
CBSE had started first phase of annual counseling from 1st of February to overcome anxiety and examination related stress. 52 Principals, trained counselors, psychologists from CBSE affiliated schools are providing their services through counseling unit of CBSE. They belong to various locations like Delhi, Noida, Chandigarh, Meerut, Jaipur, Faridabad, Bhubaneswar, Vishakhapatnam, Jamnagar, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Bangalore, Guwahati, Pune, Bhilai and other locations. Interested candidate may contact on these numbers for their counseling from 8.00 am to midnight 011- 22236110, 011-22236111, 011-22236112, 011-2223613. They can also visit www.cbse.nic.in for further details in this regard.

Delhi’s Education Minister Arvinder Singh is a busy man these days as the admission season is on in Delhi. While Delhi’s parents still prefer public schools the Education Minister has strong faith in government’s education system. In an exclusive and detailed talk with the fachcha.com the Education Minister asks ‘tell me how many civil servants have public school background’. His priorities are clear that every student in Delhi should get admission. Excerpts:
fachcha.com: Board examinations for 12th and 10th classes are going to start after few weeks what is your message?
AS: I would like to say all the students that they should not panic. They do the best in their examination. Everybody has worked hard for their better results. It is time to harvest their work without any panic. They should consult their teachers in case of any difficulty and confusion and concentrate themselves on studies.

fachcha.com: Last year government schools have performed much better. But there is common perception that there is qualitative difference between government and private schools?

AS: That is not true. Children of government schools are much better than public schools. They have given much better results not just in terms of quantity but quality too. Caliber of any child can not be measured on the basis of their schools. It varies from child to child and not from school to schools. Tell me, how many civil servants have public school background? Go and see the selection list of Civil Services and IIT and other merit lists you will find majority of selected candidates belong to government schools. This is enough to say about the quality of government schools.

fachcha.com: As a Sports Minister of Delhi what is your preparation for Commonwealth Games?
AS: We are providing training, coaching to the students with potential. We have selected 74 students with such potential for 2010 Games. They are getting training in wrestling, Athletics, Swimming, Tennis, Shooting and Hockey to ensure their seats in national team of Commonwealth Games. I hope that they will earn maximum number of medals during the games. Delhi has been best performer among all states in National School Games for last three consecutive years.

fachcha.com: What about the life skill learning through YUVA?
AS: It has been widely appreciated. We have made several changes too in it. Whatever objections raised earlier about it, have been removed from YUVA.

fachcha.com: Getting admission for their wards in schools is still a difficult task for parents? They are still worried about admission for their children? What are you doing in this regard?
AS: See, the parents are just worried about 10-12 schools and matter of fact is that all children can not get admission in these 10-12 ‘prestigious’ schools. Our aim is that every child should get admission and nobody left.

fachcha.com: The government is planning for opening public schools too?
AS: Yes, we are in the process of starting three public schools. We have identified Civil Lines, Defence Colony and East Delhi for Government Public Schools.

fachcha.com: Is it not an elitist attitude of the government? On one side government say that government schools are better on other side the government is ready to open public school. Is it not a kind of dichotomy?
AS: No, There are several reasons for opening of such schools. First, this will end the claim or perception of the people that government cannot open and run Public School. Second, new public schools are not coming out in the city as DDA has changed the land allotment scheme and started auctioning land for school or educational institution. But people are not ready to open schools by getting land through auction but they go for a university or professional colleges or institutes instead. Third, people are coming to us to get their ward’s admission in the Pratibha Vidyalaya. But as per rule only children from the government schools can get admission in such schools. The proposed schools will open for all. But its fee will be higher than the government schools as these will be self-sustainable. Government will make funding only for one time for such schools. We will run such school on the experimental basis if it is successful we can increase its number.