‘Used like guinea pigs’: Sarvodaya Vidyalaya parents want IB syllabus withdrawn, write to LG

NEW DELHI: Mere days before the new government in Delhi takes oath, a section of parents with children in 10 government schools in east Delhi have written to the Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena seeking reversal of an ambitious reform introduced by the outgoing Aam Aadmi Party.

These are the 10 schools in which, as a pilot project, the Aam Aadmi Party government had implemented the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme in 2021. Now, four years later and with the AAP on its way out of Delhi Government, parents have written to the LG, VK Saxena, raising objections to it.

In 2021, the government had picked 10 Sarvodaya Vidyalayas for implementing IB’s middle-year-programme from nursery to Class 8. Stating that their children were being used as “guinea pigs” to implement the pilot, the parents want the LG to intervene and initiate action. Even at the time of its launch, the programme had caused disquiet among teachers.

The AAP government had signed an MOU with IB board in 2021, following the launch of the Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE). As part of the agreement, it had announced that they would begin with the process of implementing IB curriculum in 30 schools – 20 Schools of Specialised Excellence (SoSE) and 10 Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) and Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya (SBV).

IB is a private international board that has thus far been associated mainly with high-end private schools. There were initially 20 SoSE but their number had now grown to around 37. These have grades from Class 9-12 and offer different specialisations.

There are around 400 Sarvodaya Vidyalayas in Delhi and these have levels from nursery to Class 12. The remaining Delhi government schools out of the total of 1,100 have Classes 6 to 12 and are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

10 Sarvodaya Vidyalaya of East Delhi

As a pilot, 10 schools in east Delhi district from the same zone were selected. The list of “K8 schools” include:

• SKV, Vivek Vihar

• SKV, Vivek Vihar School

• SKV Surajmal Vihar

• SBV Surajmal Vihar

• SBV Laxmi Nagar

• SKV Laxmi Nagar

• SKV East Vinod Nagar

• SKV WestVinod Nagar

• SKV Anand Vihar

• SKV Mayur Vihar, Phase-1, Pkt. 4

Out of these 10, eight are in buildings that have a second school running in the same premises but in the evening shift. In double-shift schools, the morning shift is for girls and the evening one for boys.

Starting their letter by stating that the “10 schools of East Delhi are being made a scapegoat”, the parents question the choice of these schools.

“The government’s thinking behind this is clear: the children in these schools are poor and no matter what activities are introduced in the schools, their parents won’t be able to speak up. Our children are being used as experimental animals, guinea pigs'...Now it has gone too far,” says the letter written in Hindi. It runs into four pages.

Talking about how each part of Delhi is diverse, the letter further adds, “There are approximately 1,064 government schools in Delhi which are spread all over Delhi. The population and distribution of people differ according to region…. But the 10 pilot schools have been selected within one and a half kilometres and this activity is being done in the name of DBSE.”

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Children being ‘threatened’

Describing this as a dream project of one individual, the parents say that the future of their children is being destroyed.

“For the last one year, when our children were being taught the DBSE curriculum in these pilot K-8 schools, we tried to raise our voices but were silenced with officials saying that it is only up to Class 8 and from next year onwards, they will again be taught the same subjects as taught by CBSE. But now, in the name of interaction, the regional director has been calling Class 8 students to tell them that the DBSE system is better than CBSE. He has been stating that the DBSE curriculum will be introduced for Class 9 as well and if the students do not follow it, they will have to leave the school,” alleges the letter.

They question how a 13-14 year old child is expected to choose a board.

The parents have not identified themselves in the letter fearing victimisation but have found a unique way of proving their identity. They have included the number of a Rs 10 note in the letter and said that “when the time comes, we will appear with the same note”.

They have also stated that whenever they have tried to raise the matter with the teacher and officials, they have been “threatened and silenced with abusive language”.

Problem with the curriculum

The parents claim the children were given a different set of books but never taught from them.

“None of those books were taught and only some photocopy material was given to the children, that too sometimes. The children were not taught properly for the whole year,” adds the letter.

They added the principals and teachers of these schools are not speaking up for fear of losing jobs. In 2021, several heads of these schools were transferred.

“But in this period, the future of our children has been ruined and for the last one year, our children are not progressing in their studies,” the letter stated.

They also have raised concerns stating that syllabus and books are being prepared and translated by school teachers.

“The whole year, our children were made to do very simple activities…which have no connection with studies and they kept telling children that these are recognised by IB and the certificate will come from Singapore. The children were not taught anything the whole year and when they went to the examination, the teachers told them the answers,” the letter alleges.

A teacher at one of the schools, on condition of anonymity, said, “For a long time parents have been raising their voice, but no one really wants to listen. Teachers are also quite clueless about this, in fact the way assessment is conducted needs to be reviewed.”

According to another teacher, the parents have been opposing the change for over a year. One batch of students has already moved to Class 9.

“Due to this, out of the four sections in Class 9, two have been retained as part of the CBSE curriculum. Since 2021 we teachers have also been attending a lot of workshops and gone to various private schools.” he said.

Investigation into DBSE

Alleging involvement of large amounts of money they have also sought investigation into the running of DBSE and this pilot project.

“We request you not to delay any further as the next session is going to start soon and we hope you take appropriate and strict action before that…An investigation should also be conducted on how much payment has been made to the International Baccalaureate (IB) in the name of Delhi Board of School Education. How much payment has been made to which NGOs and public schools working in DBSE, from the year 2020 till March 2023,” alleged the letter.

While the DBSE website contains details of SoSEs, there’s nothing on it on the 10 Sarvodaya schools.

“Why are the circulars and orders of DBSE not uploaded on the website of the education department but sent on the emails of the principals of K-8 schools. Nor has any account of the expenditure of crores of rupees been maintained,” the letter alleges.

The director, Directorate of Education (DoE), did not respond to calls or messages.