To promote and celebrate the exemplary achievements of students and schools in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party government on Friday presented the ‘Excellence in Education Awards’ to 239 students of Class 10 and Class 12 and 33 schools. Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal presented the awards to the students and said that over the years these awards had become a badge of honour.
‘Excellence in Education Awards’ were instituted in the year 2015 and since then, the Directorate of Education has been honouring its best schools and meritorious students, year after year. The scheme of excellence in education awards aims at inculcating a spirit of healthy competition among the schools and the students to excel in the academic field.
Addressing the awardees of the ‘Excellence in Education Awards,’ CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal recalled his recent chance encounter with an awardee from the previous year in a flight who had shared her achievement with him very proudly. The CM said that it made him very happy.
He reminisced that the excellence awards given to recognise the efforts of schools, principals, and children, was only a small sapling at that time of its institution in 2015. “But within the last six or seven years, these awards have elevated in prestige so much that it is considered a badge of honour by the people and the entire education ecosystem,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal congratulated all the schools and the students who received the awards this year, and prayed to God that the schools flourish and provide good education to many children. A certificate, a trophy and a cash award through account payee cheque is given to the awardees for excellence in education award for the year 2022.
The Delhi CM blessed the the children who received the awards and hoped that they achieve a lot of success in their lives. “As I was presenting the prizes to the kids, I was incredibly happy to see how confident and content they seemed. Hopefully, the schools and kids who didn’t receive awards today will do so in the years to come,” he said.
Tracing the journey of Delhi’s education system, he said that quality-wise, there were two distinct types of education systems in Delhi earlier, i.e. the government school system and the private school system. The quality of education in government schools was very bad but the poorest of the poor were still forced to send their children there. The quality of education was much better in the private schools, and anyone who could afford it sent their children to private schools.
CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that the gap that had developed between these two institutions has now been bridged thanks to the efforts made in Delhi in the area of education over the past 7-8 years. “Today, both private and public institutions in Delhi offer high-quality education in its uniform and integrated educational system. There is a real choice now for the people, so that they can choose to send their children to private or government schools as per their desire,” he said.
He added that the excellence awards are a wonderful representation of Delhi’s integrated educational system. All students from private, public, and government-aided institutions can apply for these awards. The integrated education system in Delhi does not discriminate between institutions. Good education has been made available to the children of Delhi irrespective of which school they attend.
Selection of these best schools is done by the selection committee on the given parameters which include enrollment of students, infrastructure and basic amenities of school, participation of students and teachers in co curricular activities, CBSE Results, admission of students in professional courses, inspection of school, status of liberty and average attendance of students and staff working in the schools.
Referring to AAP’s huge win in the MCD elections, the CM said, “I hope that soon we will soon start our efforts to fix all the MCD schools as well. We have around 1800 MCD schools and they are in very bad condition.”
He said that he hopes that Delhi will become the hub of high-quality education within the whole country. “I have a dream that a day will come when people from all over the world, be it from America or England, will come to Delhi to get high-quality education. We will make Delhi the center of education for the whole world,” he said.
The CM recognised the participation and contribution of all stakeholders in fixing Delhi’s entire educational system. He said that the teachers and principals have worked very hard in particular. He also emphasised that it would not have been possible without the active involvement of parents in the various programs run by the government, especially in parent-teacher meetings.
Recalling the initial parent-teacher meetings, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that it was a huge cultural shock for very poor people, such as daily wage workers and rickshaw pullers. Most of them had never even seen their children’s schools. In the initial meetings, they could not believe that they were called inside the school, respected, the teacher was talking to them to discuss their child’s studies and future.
“It all began there, and once parents began to be involved in the education of their own children, the synergies between schools and homes came to be fully realised and the complete educational system was transformed thus,” Kejriwal asserted.
The CM concluded that while the people of Delhi have achieved a lot so far, there was still a long way to go. He said, “But the results that have come so far give hope that we are on the right track. If the almighty wills, we will definitely be successful in our mission.”
On the occasion, Education Minister Shri Raaj Kumar Anand said that the real meaning of education is to prepare such conscious citizens who cannot be stopped by the walls of religion, casteism and regionalism and who know their rights and duties. He stated that it is the responsibility of teachers, principals and schools to prepare such aware citizens. He said that the education system in the country was kept useless for years so that people remained deprived of education. Such a belief had developed that now the education system cannot be reformed. But CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal changed this perception and improved the education system, he added.
Category in which awards are given are
State Best Government School- Cash Award of Rs 1 lakh
District Best government schools- cash award of Rs 50000 (11 schools)
Zonal best Government schools, RPVV/ SoE, best government aided schools and best recognised private unaided schools- cash award of rupees 21000 (21 schools)
Topper Students of government school including RPVVs, SoEs and government-aided schools are awarded with silver medal of 30 gm, certificate and cash award of rupees 5000 each
