In a unique initiative, the Education Ministry of the Delhi Government, is organizing a Summer Camp for more than 550 Government schools across the face of Delhi. The project is of epic proportions, and involves more than 1,500 teachers and 45,000 students.

Recently, we had written about India’s crippling HDI crisis. The Delhi Government has taken serious note of the deficiencies in the Public Education Sector, and has allocated 25% of its budgetary outlay for Education.

The incoming students of standard six (VI) are going to participate in the camp, that will last between 11th May and 31st May. To conduct this gala affair, the Delhi Government has taken help from two NGOs that specialize in the field of education –Pratham and Saajha. All teachers are being given specialized training for the Summer Camp.  

The Summer Camps are meant to integrate core educational skills (such as cognitive thinking, reading and counting) with group activities.  To facilitate better understanding, the participating kids will be divided into small groups of six. They will then be allocated tasks such as reading basic texts in Hindi. The team will continuously assess the levels as which the kids are performing.

In a progressive effort, the Summer Camp will try to help the students enhance their skills. Basic deficiencies in Math skills, such as the inability to understand simple multiplication and division problems will also be tackled with the use of practical tools. The program is designed to teach kids through the ‘play-way’ method.

Atishi Marlena, who serves as the Advisor to the Education Minister is overlooking the project. She says, “We want to bridge the gap between private and public education. Students of Government schools should be able to avail the same facilities as those who go to private schools”. Atishi hopes that the Camps will be the perfect way of welcoming students to their new schools.

On two days of the 21-day affair, parents of all the participating kids will be invited to be a part of the camp. Together with their kids, the parents will create artwork that will go up on the Summer Camp Wall that every school will put up. Some of the best works from the Summer Camp will also be published by the Tourism Department of Delhi.

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The Logical Indian community wants to convey its best wishes to all the participants and organizers of this event. Such initiatives will allow kids to showcase their creativity and also develop a sense of camaraderie. We hope that other State Governments will also take note of this, and initiate such initiatives through their Education Ministry.

– Rahul Jacobean Dhanuka