By Praveen Dwivedi

New Delhi, Jun 20 (IANS): With the national capital witnessing a declining trend in daily Covid-19 cases, the state government has initiated the process of setting up its own school education board -- the Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE).

According to an official privy to the development, the process of coordination with government schools, as part of DBSE's functioning, has kicked off.

The Delhi government had earlier estimated that 25-30 government schools would be affiliated to DBSE in the first academic year of its operation, 2021-2022. However, the official could not immediately confirm how many schools had shown an interest in getting affiliated to the newly set up DBSE.

"There are various developments taking place at different stages. Coordination with government schools, hiring of staff members, teachers' training, preparation of curriculum and many other things are in process. However, all developments are at initial stages and hopefully we would be able to make any announcement in the next one or two months," said a senior Delhi government official.

On when the board would be fully functional, the official said: "The actual functioning of Delhi Board of School Education will start once schools reopen in the city."

The announcement of setting up of Delhi's first school education board (DBSE) was announced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government on March 9, during the annual Budget for 2021-22, and a separate amount of Rs 62 crore was allocated for this purpose.

Another Delhi government official said that notifications had been issued and the preparation of the curriculum was in full swing when the second Covid wave hit the national capital. All plans for initiating the DBSE functioning were then put on hold.

"Due to the unprecedented surge in Covid cases in Delhi, all officials and other staff members were deployed on Covid duty and plans for DBSE were put on hold," said the official on the condition of anonymity.

DBSE is the first independent school education board under the Delhi government. Its governance and coordination will be overseen by a governing body under the chairpersonship of Delhi's Education Minister. Other members of the governing body will be education officials, experts from the field of higher education, principals of government and private schools, teachers and parents.

The separate education board for Delhi came into existence on March 19 after its registration under the Society Registration Act, 1860. The Delhi Cabinet had approved the proposal to set up DBSE on March 6.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had earlier said that DBSE had a three-fold purpose. First, it would move away from the practice of rote learning and towards giving a holistic picture of each learner. Second, it would emphasise on continuous formative assessments. And third, it was aimed at encouraging a growth mindset among the students which would be strengthened by making it part of regular assessment.

There are currently around 1,000 government schools and about 1,700 private schools in Delhi, and most of them are affiliated with the CBSE.