Rafique Aziz
Aurangabad, Aug 7:
Where there is a will, there is a way. This proverbial saying proves true in the case of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) as it has vowed to change according to times and cater for the needs of low-income group citizens, by imparting quality education to their wards through starting the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools, this academic year. To fulfil the dreams, the education section, selected a team of youth and enthusiastic teachers, for whom teaching is a passion and love. This is enough to assume that the AMC wants to outshine by breaking the supremacy of the CBSE schools run by private societies in the city.
The civic officials underlined that it is their first experience to set up CBSE schools and their only aim is to give quality education to the wards of poor and needy citizens, to whom private societies deny admissions for want of exorbitant fees, and to fulfil the expectations of the citizens, who had admitted their wards in the AMC-run CBSE schools. The AMC administrator A K Pandey took the daring step to start CBSE schools in Garkheda and Osmanpura localities. Each school will run classes - junior KG, senior KG, first and second standard - with an intake capacity of 20 students in each class. However, the AMC got a waiting list of 50 students in both schools.
The deputy commissioner Santosh Tengle explained, " It was a little tough in the selection of smart teachers to teach NCERT syllabus. The core team formed to monitor the operation of the CBSE schools prepared the first list of 30 teachers. Later on, six teachers (four ladies and two gents) were shortlisted from it. The teaching skills in the State Board schools and the CBSE schools are different. Hence leaving traditional teaching methods and switching over to another is a challenge in itself. Hence these selected teachers visited few CBSE schools run by private societies. The interaction with private school teachers helped us to know the state-of-the-art teaching skills, latest trends in the field of education, how to develop an educational environment in classrooms through charts and displays to encourage children for learning, set up infrastructure in classrooms, amusement toys, handling crying kids, etc."
Online classes to start from Monday
The AMC has decided to start conducting the classes online from Monday (August 9), one week ahead of the inauguration, said civic education officer Ramnath Thore. He said, " A parents meet in both the CBSE schools is organised on Monday and then start the online teaching will be started. The parents will be guided in procuring smart devices (tab or mobile) for online education, NCERT syllabus books and uniform."
Uniform to be designed through parents suggestions?
" The schools are being started from the current academic year. In tomorrow's meeting, we will invite suggestions from parents on designing the uniform for the students. Later on, the final discussion will be made with the AMC administrator and the design and colour of the uniform will be finalised for the students. Running a CBSE school is a first time experience, but we will try our best to outsmart the private-run CBSE schools," said the core team member and cultural officer Sanjeev Sonar.
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CBSE affiliation after 3 years!
The news of free of cost admissions spread like wildfire in the city. The core team will be discussing the overwhelming response to admissions with the civic chief. The team members will be suggesting to either start one more division of each class or increase the intake capacity of each class and adjust the waiting list. The schools will be started as per the CBSE pattern, but the affiliation will be awarded after three years if the schools are maintained as per the board norms, said the sources.
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Eyes of parents welled up with tears!!!
According to sources, " When the AMC closed the admissions in CBSE schools. The parents got angry, started arguing with the teachers, some of them were requesting or the eyes of some parents welled up with tears when their wards did not get admission. The scene was touching as it shows the trust put on by the parents on the AMC administration."