Delhi Government Schools: laboratories of neo-liberalism

As per the Directorate of Education's annual reports, in the last 4 years, the number of regular students studying in Class X and XII in Delhi Government schools has decreased by 43,540 and 53,431 respectively. This reduction is 24% in class X and 32% in class XII. That is, every fourth student in Class X and every third student in Class XII has been pushed out before completing his/her schooling. On the one hand, a large number of students are getting pushed out of regular schools in classes 9, 10, 11, and on the other hand Delhi Government is claiming credit for itself by joining hands with National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). According to the Praja Foundation Report (White Paper, State of Public (School Education) in Delhi, Praja.org, Dec 2017), 85,000 children in Delhi were pushed out of schools in 2016. The point is, if the Delhi government is patting its back for doing great work in schools, then, let alone the number remaining stable, why is the enrollment decreasing in government schools?

Pushing children out of school

 In fact, it is becoming difficult for the students of Delhi Government schools to complete their education till class 12. In 2018-19, 66% (that is, more than 100,000) of the total number of students who failed in Classes 9 to 12 were not given re-admission in government schools (RTI reply, 15.11.18, made public by advocate Ashok Aggarwal). In order to improve the results, the Delhi Government instructed the schools that students failing in class 9, 10, 11 should be encouraged to leave regular school and seek admission in correspondence/open school. By rolling back the ‘No Detention Policy’, Delhi government has made arrangements for pushing a part of student population out of schools after class five itself.

We are aware of this bitter truth that instead of becoming easier, getting admission in government schools has become tougher. Under the Right to Education Act, it is mandatory to give admission to children of the age group of 6 to 14 years, but, over the years, the government orders in this regard have been making various documents mandatory - Aadhaar card, proof of address, bank account etc. Even the illegal condition of 'last date' for admission has been imposed. In 2017, by making the process of admission compulsorily online Delhi government increased the problems of parents manifold. It is needless to say that parents of children coming to our schools were forced to invest their hard earned money and time visiting internet café for filling up admission forms. Many faced further loss and harassment in getting mistakes corrected in their applications. Many children were deprived of admission and ended up losing precious academic year/s due to the illegal and heartless conditions and the opacity due to technical problems. We have come across children in the very heart of the country's capital who were repeating their 5th grade in the Municipal schools merely because they could not get admission in class 6th of the government school! There were instances when even those students who had passed a higher grade in the government's own school were seeking admission in class 5th of the Municipal school as their parents could neither understand nor fulfill the technical requirements of transfers upon shifting their residences. 

A game of inflating examination results is being played out at the cost of truth. Children are given differential and sub-standard tests so that the pass-percentage appears higher. Written and oral threats have been used to build an unethical pressure upon teachers to manipulate results. Repeated testing is not only causing a waste of teaching-learning time but is also creating a context in which intellectual values of education are getting replaced by coaching, competition and MCQ-based exams meant for preparing children for the world of market.

Studies of scholars such as Dianne Ravitch and our own experience tell us that this philosophy and system of result-based evaluation creates all kinds of anomalies: such as, not going into the depth of a subject, test-controlled, narrow teaching-learning, a fraudulent and undignified approach, right from setting exam-papers to checking and declaring results, competitiveness and resultant discrimination based on the feelings of superiority and inferiority, reliance on external motivators etc.

Classifying/Labeling children inside schools

 Students from classes VI to IX and, since last year from class III itself, have been classified and labeled in different sections on the basis of tests evaluating their 'Basic Skills' in Hindi-English-Maths. These tests were imposed in Delhi Government schools under schemes named Chunauti (2016) and Mission Buniyad (2018). This is a system which reminds of structures and ideology of apartheid and caste discrimination. We have seen the tragic and deeply dangerous impact of this division and the policy of labeling children in the interactions and the language used among teachers and students. On the one hand, some have taken it as a mark of exclusive superiority, while others have felt disappointment, inferiority and exclusion. In both circumstances, children have been dehumanised.

From another point of view, this mission is an attempt to dilute the objectives of education and reduce schools to mere literacy or tuition centers. Those who understand the complexities of education know that children learn 'language' through concepts and life experiences. To de-contextualize language learning, as has been done in programs such as Mission Buniyaad, holds a clear message that knowledge and contemplation is being eliminated from language education. In the name of making children literate, there is a conspiracy to transform thinking minds into empty utensils.

During Mission Buniyaad, teachers were instructed to execute the training manuals provided to them. New mechanical tools are being used to monitor each activity of each class of each school. In order to ensure that teachers’ self knowledge and autonomy don’t hinder the implementation of these schemes, a body of 'mentor teachers' and Teacher Development Coordinators (TDCs) has been created in schools. They are expected to do micro-monitoring, ensure smooth implementation of government schemes, regulate teachers' behavior and instill in them fear of the bosses.

In fact, such 'missions' are being organized across the world to fulfill the agenda of global capitalist organizations so that a 'literate but uneducated labor force' can be prepared to serve their needs and interests. The Delhi Government has also proved its loyalty to these global capitalist institutions by investing so rigorously in such missions.

Along with segregating children, the process of a hierarchical classification of schools has also been accelerated. By declaring its 54 schools as 'model' schools, government added another layer to the already layered structure of government schools (and very cleverly infiltrated NGOs in the functioning of these schools through Public Private Partnership). It has gone on to add another exclusionary layer of schools, by establishing the VVIP set of 'schools of excellence'.

Schools as centers of preparing cheap labor force

 Marketization is also linked to the scheme of 'skill development', in the name of which students in government schools are being pushed to vocational courses from class ninth onward. Again, a large number of students of class XI are being pushed into vocational courses against their interest or desire. This is a direct attack on the academic character of government schools. Such courses have a gender-divisive character too. Moreover, they are being imposed on government schools only where most of the students come from the working class, dalit, socially backward, minority and disabled backgrounds. This is a way of ensuring an educational-social exclusion of children from disadvantaged sections and classes.

It is not just a matter of pushing working-class students towards vocational education but also of imparting an anti-worker vocational education to them which will be limited only to the technical knowledge of a vocation and will be deprived of its socio-economic-political aspects. Today Vocational education is teaching children to keep the interests of owners and consumers supreme and inculcating in them a sense of becoming ideal servants as a virtue. This education will not teach them the historical underpinnings of caste and gender discrimination of these vocations. Any scope of raising questions on the division of physical and mental labor and learning from labor struggles against capitalism will be subdued. The NSQF (National Skills Qualifications Framework) program run by Ministry of Human Resource Development in schools is an extension of the same policy. Anil Sadgopal writes in his article Skill India or Deskilling India (EPW, August 2016) that in future NSQF certificates will be made compulsory for the unorganized sector to find employment and since many children are already being made to leave school before class 8, they will not get such a certificate. As a result they will be declared as unskilled laborers and left at the behest of Make in India for unregulated exploitation. 

Delhi Government has implemented this policy in its schools with full force and vigour. Today, in our schools, private organisations conduct aptitude tests of children even in much lower classes and, without any active involvement of teachers, classify children on the basis of these tests and encourage them to go for vocational courses.

Delhi government has not opened any new colleges or teacher education institutions, but has erected a few 'world-class' skill development centers which have been well-publicized and proudly promoted. In teacher education, the role of universities and the SCERT is being diluted and significant control being shifted to NGOs. What could be more ridiculous than the fact that when the entire economy is going through a crisis, government sector is being contracted, small self-employed businesses are facing one after another attack, then the children are being taught that unemployment exists because of lack of basic skills among people and which is why they need to learn such skills? Then what is the need of schools in the first place?

Non-academization of school curriculum

 The Government of Delhi is running some more programs leading to dilution of education; such as, Happiness Curriculum (till Class-VIII), Cleanliness Curriculum and now Entrepreneurship Curriculum (Personal Business curriculum; Class IX-XII). These curricula, lacking any deep educational-philosophy, have been adopted without following due academic process. Basically, these programs consume 40-50 minutes of the school time of every child in order to stultify their consciousness. They encourage children to divorce questions of happiness, satisfaction, and justice from the larger economic-social-political reality and context. However, it is true that by throwing a glittering light upon such superficial and faulty ideas, the government's publicity system has been able to gain media attention and some uninformed applause. An organization like Vidya Jyoti which has a purportedly spiritualist orientation, is being given an important place within the district level institutions preparing elementary teachers. It is certain that such institutions and courses will become a medium to promote conservative and anti-science ideas in schools in a dangerous way.

Schools becoming sites of Propaganda

 The Delhi government joined hands with the Saajha Manch NGO to facilitate the process of School Management Committee (SMC) elections and organizing its monthly meetings in schools. Alongside has started the process of imposing a centralized agenda on functioning of the SMCs and using them for non-academic purposes. For example, the Delhi Government, holding the No Detention Policy to be responsible for the poor results of students, issued a directive (dated 15th June, 2015) to the schools to use the SMC meeting to convince parents that the said policy and their children's lack of effort was the main reason behind the latter's poor performance. These meetings are not meant to provide an open space for teachers and parents to discuss issues freely and according to their needs and contexts. Rather, they have been hijacked to sell government programs such as Mission Buniyaad, Aadhaar, GST, Provident Fund for girls etc. In our society, parents still seek school teachers’ advice for their children and that is why governments have started using schools and teachers as salespersons for their policies. On January 28, 2019, the platform of the Mega PTM organized in schools of Delhi Government was openly used by the CM himself for party propaganda and making an electoral appeal to the parents and even the students. Hoardings announcing ‘construction of 11,000 classrooms by Delhi Government’ were put up in schools on the day of this Mega PTM. This was not any public benefit announcement but a clear case of self-promotion regarding a work that has not even started yet! The feeling that their labour and role is being used for party propaganda is leading to a growing sense of discomfiture among teachers.

The MLA representative of a school's SMC, exhibiting an example of VIP culture, threatened to throw an employee out of job on the spot after finding an alleged fault in his work. In another school, an SMC member advised and put pressure on women teachers to wear dupatta in order to follow and exemplify decorum. We need to understand that if the relationship between the SMC and teachers continues to be determined by a centralized agenda then the objectives of increasing community participation in schools and democratising them cannot be achieved. 

Schools becoming centers of Data Production

 Another aspect of the changing role of Delhi government schools is that they are being transformed into centers of gathering data of different kinds. For example, this government directs the schools to collect all kinds of personal information (eg, voter card, Aadhar card, phone number, educational qualification, proprietary nature of the house etc.) of all members of students’ families. When questions were raised in the court about the need of this data, the government could not give a satisfactory reply, except to claim that it was needed to make various plans. It could not even disclose the identity of the third party which was to be handed over this data. Though, put under pressure in the court, the government had to reduce the range of information sought, it managed to collect and upload a lot of data by putting acute administrative pressure on the principals and teachers, and by making them work overtime.

Then the parents of the children who had shared their phone numbers with the school owing to a feeling of trust in schools and their lack of awareness, received messages on their children's birthday through which the Education Minister wished them that they would grow up to do good work for the nation like the Aam Aadmi Party! Everyday an emergency of data is created in schools and teachers are reprimanded for any delay on their part in this regard. This hunger for data is increasing incessantly which is not only raising the burden of non-academic work on teachers but also making schools a site of business in data. Important personal information of children is sought by schools, but children and parents are not informed why the said information is sought, where will it go and what conclusions will be derived from it. This data production needs to be understood in the light of the increasing trend around the world of using citizens' data to build propaganda and put citizens under surveillance. 

                                                 

Education budget increasing under an anti-education agenda

 The growth of the budget can be seen in the construction of new rooms, formation of new blocks in the existing premises, and reconstruction of the old buildings, but it has not been done as per the organic requirements of the schools or areas. Apart from this, government’s failure to set up new schools and a close look at the announcements made everyday indicate that this increased budget has been used to fund unnecessary projects and benefit private organisations. It is worth noting that media has also given a very positive reporting of the handful of schools where 'world-class' swimming pools have been made, without investigating the fact that in most schools, playgrounds are contracting. The question which needs to be asked is what percentage of children are able to use the five-star facilities of these handful of schools and who is actually reaping the fruits in this process. While Rs 670 crores are being spent on installing CCTVs in schools and a budget of about Rs 75 crores has been kept for the purchase of tabs for teachers, the need to waive off the CBSE fees of children from class 9 to 12 has not been felt. Under the PPP formula, the grounds of some schools have been entrusted to the private coaching academies for running their centers during holidays. In order to make this acceptable, the government has said that these academies will have to reserve 50% seats for the government school children free of charge and they can make profit by charging fees on the remaining 50% seats.

Institutions like the British Council have been given the opportunity to enroll students of government schools in the name of teaching them spoken English for the need of the market, thereby diluting the academic basis of the subject. Schools have been used unethically for promoting the business of private institutions. In the name of helping 'poor' children, government has entered into contracts with coaching centers for providing competition-oriented coaching to students. This has led to a further negative impact on the seriousness of regular schooling. Similarly, in another attempt to display its magnanimity, the government has announced the policy to provide loans for higher education whereby it has accepted to play the role of guarantor before the bank. This way it has been able to establish higher education as a legitimate site for market and private profit to flourish. Thus, killing two birds with one stone! In this scenario, the Delhi government’s case needs to be taken as a lesson which tells us how it is possible to increase the education budget and yet push a neo-liberal agenda.

Schools becoming laboratories of neo-liberalism

 NGOs are the prominent agents of neo-liberalism in education and it is these NGOs who have been given a prominent place in policy formulation and implementation by Delhi government. The NGO Pratham creates tools to test skills of children and then prepares shallow material (Pragati Books) which are brought into schools causing marginalization of NCERT textbooks. A corporatist organization, the Centre Square Foundation has been engaged to join hands with Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) for preparing a grading report of schools. This is the same organisation whose proud free-market declaration is that instead of running public schools, governments should give vouchers to children to study in private schools (fund children, not schools). Research and programs sponsored by such forces all over the world have created an anxiety around the ‘crisis of Learning’ (i.e. children are not 'learning') to defame the public school system and declare it a failure so that education can be cleared for the profiteers to invade. That is, first these institutions conduct surveys to prove that government schools, especially teachers, are useless, then earn money from government by selling their tests, books, trainers and then prepare the way for handing over of the government schools into private hands. It is a fallacy to argue that teachers alone are responsible for students’ results, while the truth is that children’s learning is influenced far more by their socio-economic context and school conditions, two things for which the responsibility lies with the State.

If the senior officers of Pratham have been given a decisive role in the education department of Delhi Government, another prominent figure of the same organization has also been seen to play an active role in the MHRD, Central Government. It is thus clear that the Central and the Delhi governments are being controlled by the same hands.

The important thing is that government schools are being converted into laboratories for neo-liberalism. Today, children from the working class studying in these schools are being cheated in two ways - by reducing the academic content from their education and by wasting their time in many ways. The future of the schools is getting dependent on their efficiency to collect data, feed it on computer, implement the ever new anti-education policies and schemes and send completion reports to the government. For this, each teacher in Delhi Government schools is also being provided a tab. They are expected to present a model of proficiency that attracts new vendors. If we look at the policies of the Center and various state governments, it is clear that on the one hand, governments are manipulating the education budget in the name of efficiency, and on the other hand, they are pinning the blame of their own failures on public systems and their employees. We are increasingly hearing about unannounced inspections of ministers and officers, suspension of teachers, introduction of new tests etc. Instead of controlling directly, they are creating frameworks for result-based assessments which claim to be objective. Indeed, the desire to increase auditing and accountability is a way of neo-liberal governments to cover-up their own failures and debacles. It is becoming clearer now that under neo-liberalism, government schools will not just be used to create an army of workers as per the requirement of capitalism, but government schools will be used to fulfill various needs of local and especially global capital. This whole game is not about strengthening public education but to present a model of skillful governance that can serve the purposes of global capital. Governments, at the centre and in states, would be made to prove their worth sooner or later. Else, the agents will be shifted.

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                      17^th February, 2019