New Delhi, July 21, 2020: Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia addressed the first session of the Principal Training Programme for the batch 2020-21 via video conference on Monday. IIM Ahmedabad will train the next batch of 50 Delhi Govt. school principals in leadership and empowerment which is in continuation with the tie-up between IIM-A and SCERT Delhi. So far 700 Heads of Schools have undergone training at IIM- A which started four years ago. The aim of the Principal training programme is to train heads of Delhi Government schools for building leadership competencies, empowering them and instilling local accountability towards their respective schools.
In our first term of Principal Training Programme, we empowered our school principals to take autonomous decisions at the school level. Made them in charge of SMC funds which led to local accountability. I am now looking at IIM Ahmedabad to help us to further empower our principals, said Dy CM Sisodia.
Around 700 Heads of Schools have already received training under this programme. When we started around 4 years ago, we had the vision to bring a transformation in our schools through this leadership training programme. We wanted to empower our Heads of Schools to take a decision for their schools and committed funds to execute their decisions. Hence, we entrusted them with the SMC funds so that they could use them immediately for removing any shortcoming or requirement at school level without waiting for the Govt. to take action and waste time due to the slow file movement. This has resulted in Local Level Accountability amongst our HoS. Our schools have been empowered. These were our needs four years ago. Right now I am looking at IIM Ahmedabad to help us further empower our Principals, ” said. Dy CM Sisodia.
From academics to administration, planning to decision making, I want schools to become decentralised autonomous institutions and take charge of education- Dy CM Manish Sisodia
The Education Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia said that it is important for the Heads of schools to take responsibility for their individual schools. He said that he wants to see Delhi Govt. schools as decentralised autonomous institutions and let HoS take charge of education and bringing about a revolution. “From academics to administration, planning to decision making, I want schools to become decentralised autonomous institutions and take charge of education,” he said.
It is the Heads of schools who run the schools. We as ministers, directors, and education dept officers are just the facilitators- Dy CM Sisodia.
Manish Sisodia also added that it is the responsibility of the Heads of the Schools to look after the smooth functioning of the schools and work towards their improvement. He stated that the ministers, the Director of Education, the Deputy Directors and other Education officers are just the facilitators. “Running the school is the responsibility of each school principal who is central to the entire school system. We as ministers, Education Directors and officers are just the facilitators,” he said.
Online learning may not be a solution, but it is a necessity. Urge our Delhi Govt. school principals to fully commit to it. – Dy CM Sisodia Concluding his address, Manish Sisodia thanked the IIM Ahmedabad team for their support in conducting this new session of the principal training programme amid the pandemic situation. He also highlighted the importance of online learning which has become nearly inevitable in these uncertain times when schools are closed and regular classes not taking place. “ Online learning may not be a solution but it is a necessity today. So I urge all our school principals to fully commit to it,” he said.
The team from IIM Ahmedabad included Ms Neharika Vohra, who spoke on the ‘Role of a School Principal’ ; Rajeev Sharma who talked about ‘Integrating Community and School Search for Innovations’ and Vijaya Sherry Chand who spoke on ‘‘Encouraging Innovation for Teacher Development’.
By Lipakshi Seedhar: