To solve math problem, Delhi government to conduct special classes in 342 schools

A total of 342 “low-performing” government schools have been shortlisted for the initiative. These schools had recorded a pass percentage of less than 55% in the class X mathematics board exam last year, with the lowest pass percentage in a school recorded at 7.02%.

A total of 30,497 students from these 342 schools had appeared for the exam last year, and the cumulative pass percentage between them was just 41.98%.

The Indian Express in October had reported on how the Delhi government was making a concerted effort to improve the class X pass percentage in its schools, with a targeted focus on mathematics which has been identified as a problem area.

Around 1.66 lakh students from Delhi government schools had appeared for last year’s board exams, of which 37,073 failed in mathematics. Only 75% students had passed in mathematics, while more than 95% had failed in languages and social sciences.

Under this initiative, students in these “low-performing” schools will be tutored for 100 hours until the exam. They will be taught in batches of 30 for two hours at a time every day.

A government spokesperson said, “The job of the external agencies would be to customise the content to help students prepare for the board exam. The package is proposed to be of 100 hours, covering important topics to be completed before the exam. Practice material will also be provided by the external agencies. These external resource persons will work in close coordination with the existing teachers so that both can complement each other.”

Shailendra Sharma, advisor to the education minister, had told The Indian Express that the government was turning to private parties for assistance due to lack of teachers. “Even when we send out notifications of vacancies for regular maths teachers, we receive very few candidates…,” he had said.