The desks stands out as the similar however rather a lot has modified since 2016 at Paschim Vihar’s Authorities Co-ed Senior Secondary Faculty, the place Vijay Kumar studied until Class IX. From a 14-year-old gangly pupil at a Delhi government-run faculty, he went on to graduate in chemical engineering from IIT-Delhi in 2022 and co-founded a hospitality start-up.
For somebody who defied the percentages stacked towards him, a go to to his alma mater left the 22-year-old surprised. Pointing to the newly relaid out of doors basketball court docket and the soccer subject — “with actual grass” — he remarks in awe, “The distinction is unimaginable. All the pieces has been beautified right here. The playground was a barren patch of land once I was a pupil right here until 2016.”
Pointing to the newly constructed lecture rooms and different infrastructure upgrades on the premises, Vijay says, “Once I was in Class XII, my juniors studied below tin-roof sheds as a result of the outdated constructing was being reconstructed.”
Vijay standing in his outdated classroom. He graduated in chemical engineering from IIT-Delhi in 2022.
In his outdated classroom on the primary ground, extra nice surprises await. “The desks are the identical, however the damaged home windows and followers have been fastened. The board was black once I was right here. It’s inexperienced now,” he says, including that he moved to the close by Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV), additionally a Delhi government-run faculty in Paschim Vihar, after Class IX and studied there until Class XII.
Vijay was amongst 4,953 college students from Delhi authorities colleges who enrolled for scholarships in 2018 to hitch IIT-JEE teaching centres below the Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana. Beneath the scheme, launched in 2017, help as much as Rs 40,000, together with a Rs 2,500 month-to-month stipend, is offered to college students whose household earnings is beneath Rs 6 lakh a 12 months. The scholars are then enrolled in empanelled teaching institutes for aggressive exams reminiscent of NEET, JEE-Superior and CAT. In line with an official assertion, in 2018-19, 35 of 107 college students enrolled below the scheme cracked JEE-Superior and NEET.
Within the run-up to the Delhi Meeting polls, it’s schemes like these and the general transformation of presidency colleges to carry them at par with non-public institutes that AAP has pitched as its main achievements.
Vijay along with his Social Science instructor Saabir Hussain at Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV), additionally a Delhi government-run faculty the place he studied from Class 9 to 12.
Beneath former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who additionally held the training portfolio, the federal government launched a number of key initiatives just like the Happiness Curriculum “to advertise emotional well-being”, the Deshbhakti Curriculum “to instill civic values” and the Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum “to foster enterprise acumen”. It additionally launched the Colleges of Specialised Excellence (SOSE), which offered targeted training in STEM (science, know-how, engineering, and arithmetic), humanities, and humanities.
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Since 2015, the AAP authorities has allotted practically 25% of its annual finances in direction of training reforms. In 2024-25, out of the Rs 76,000 crore, a finances of Rs 16,396 crore was proposed for the training sector. Nonetheless, rivals Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) and the Congress have criticised the AAP authorities for “not constructing new colleges, solely new lecture rooms”.
Regardless of vital progress in infrastructure and educational outcomes, authorities colleges nonetheless wrestle with shortcomings in areas like extracurricular actions — debates and sports activities — aggressive examination preparation for greater training and cleanliness.
This was identified by college students like Vijay.
Okay M Sandhya, 20, a second-year pupil at Maulana Azad Medical Faculty, transferred to the Delhi authorities’s Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) in Yamuna Vihar from a personal faculty after Class VIII.
For him, the largest hole was his wrestle to speak in English. “Once I entered IIT-Delhi, I used to be hesitant to ask questions in English. Nobody that I knew at a authorities faculty spoke English. I belong to a modest background — my father is a tailor and my mom is a homemaker. So non-public education, the place English is often spoken, was by no means an possibility.”
On the RPVV too, the curriculum then didn’t place an enormous significance on communication expertise. He says with some self-discipline, non-public teaching and an unwavering dedication to succeed, he overcame the problems he confronted whereas speaking in English by watching English collection on OTT platforms.
As we speak, the RPVV in Paschim Vihar is a Faculty of Specialised Excellence (SOSE), whose new constructing was inaugurated final 12 months. As Vijay steps into the SOSE campus, he spots his outdated Social Science instructor, Saabir Husain, 57, who has been educating on the faculty since 2003.
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Deepanshu, 20, one other pupil at Maulana Azad Medical Faculty, was educated completely in Delhi authorities colleges. He secured a NEET rank of 514 with out non-public teaching.
Smiling warmly as Vijay touches his ft, Husain says, “College students like Vijay are proof of RPVVs producing achievers. Although we nonetheless have no idea the tutorial final result of the SOSE batches, we’ll learn how these college students carried out academically this 12 months (the primary batch will cross out in 2025).”
Vijay chimes in, “I couldn’t afford non-public education, however RPVV gave me the inspiration I wanted. Nonetheless, aggressive examination preparation wasn’t emphasised sufficient by the varsity. I needed to depend on separate teaching courses to clear JEE.”
Husain provides, “The infrastructure is nice, however the SOSE curriculum has been just a little complicated. Academics haven’t been instructed correctly what outcomes are anticipated from the scholars. Whereas initiatives just like the Happiness and Deshbhakti Curriculum are good steps, they generally divert college students from the core syllabus.”
College students like Vijay additionally thought that sports activities weren’t prioritised in authorities colleges. He cherished taking part in kho kho however there was no correct coaching or correct coaches, he says.
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Vijay additionally thinks extra constant parent-teacher engagement might enhance the training system. “Mum or dad-teacher conferences hardly ever occurred — perhaps as soon as in six months or a 12 months. Common conferences are necessary. How else will dad and mom know the way their kids are doing?” he says.
Throughout town, different “success tales” from Delhi authorities colleges weigh in on what labored and what didn’t work for them.
Okay M Sandhya, 20, a second-year pupil at Delhi’s Maulana Azad Medical Faculty, remembers her preliminary apprehensions about becoming a member of a authorities faculty. She transferred to the Delhi authorities’s Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) in Yamuna Vihar from a personal faculty within the space after Class VIII.
Sandhya lives in Northeast Delhi’s Maujpur, which is a mixture of unauthorised colonies and jhuggi jhopdi (JJ) clusters; her father is a contractual worker within the Municipal Company of Delhi’s Home Tax Division and her mom is a housewife.
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“Earlier than I joined the federal government faculty, I had a really totally different impression of them. Nonetheless, my faculty was a very good one. The academics and the infrastructure have been respectable, with good lecture rooms and desks,” Sandhya says.
She handed out of college in 2022, having scored 98.2% in her Class X board exams and 95.2% in her Class XII board exams.
Regardless of her constructive expertise and educational efficiency, she realised in school that the curriculum had “essential gaps”. Stating that she went on to succeed regardless of the “systemic shortcomings”, she says, “Delhi authorities colleges ought to emphasise educating communication expertise. I understood this solely after I went to school — authorities faculty college students really feel just a little underconfident. College students who come from non-public colleges communicate in English extra comfortably.”
She found her “different drawback” when she took teaching from a personal centre. “Authorities colleges are extra targeted on board exams. They don’t supply sufficient assist to college students in terms of aggressive exams. Board examination outcomes don’t actually matter — to get into a very good school, one must ace aggressive exams,” she says.
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She additionally mentions overcrowded lecture rooms, one other challenge talked about by a number of others. “There was no area in my faculty,” she says, including that every classroom then had at the least 78-90 college students.
As of right this moment, SKV Yamuna Vihar accommodates over 4,500 college students, as per official knowledge offered on the Delhi Schooling Division’s web site.
Whereas Sandhya praises the profession counseling providers supplied at her faculty, she says authorities colleges typically lack concept-based training and interactive studying alternatives. “Extra debates and interactive programmes have to be organised in colleges and lecture rooms to maintain college students from feeling overwhelmed once they go to school,” she says.
Her observations are echoed by others, together with Deepanshu, 20, one other pupil at Maulana Azad Medical Faculty. A resident of Sultanpuri in Northwest Delhi, Deepanshu’s dad and mom run a tea stall. Completely educated in Delhi authorities colleges, he secured a NEET rank of 514 with out non-public teaching.
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A pupil at Nagar Nigam Vidyalaya, Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, and RPVV in Sultanpuri, he says, “In main faculty, I felt academics weren’t affected person sufficient and never as accessible. In center faculty, I felt that a few of them have been very lazy. Kuch academics time cross karne aate the varsity (Some academics used to return to highschool simply to cross the time).”
Deepanshu feels common monitoring might enhance educating high quality and guarantee higher accountability amongst academics. “Once we had a very good principal who used to return for normal inspection, the academics would stay alert,” he says.
Recalling a time when he was in Class VII at Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in 2017, he says his courses have been carried out in a brief tin shed.
“My faculty constructing was in a nasty situation and wanted to be reconstructed. By the point it was constructed, I had handed out of college. We additionally lacked clear loos,” Deepanshu says.
Calling RPVV, the place he studied in Courses 11 and 12 (2021-2022), the “greatest faculty” he attended, he says, “RPVV is one of the best faculty I’ve been to in my life. It has now grow to be a SOSE. I had an excellent counselor who supported me. It additionally had specialised communication enchancment and morale-boosting lectures.”
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Regardless of all of the assist, Deepanshu’s journey to clearing NEET was largely self-dependent. “Studying from YouTube is how I cleared my NEET examination. Our college additionally had teaching courses for a month, which helped rather a lot,” he says.
Nonetheless, he believes the federal government’s focus ought to shift. “As an alternative of creating a very good faculty like RPVV right into a SOSE, the Sarvodaya Vidyalayas and the co-ed colleges which nonetheless want extra improvement, must be made higher and was SOSEs. These are the colleges that want extra consideration,” he says.
