Govt schools close gap with KVs

Government schools in the Capital have finally shown that they are second to none. And they have strong proof to endorse the claim — their 2009 Class XII board results.

A detailed analysis of the performance prepared by the education department shows that not only have their schools produced results better than their private counterparts, they are also increasingly proving to be tough competition for their Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) rivals.

“In the past, we have been consistently criticised in comparison to the performance of Kendriya Vidyalayas in the Capital.

A ranking of all schools as per quality (total marks divided by number of students appeared) shows that 16 of our government schools rank higher than any KV,” said Education Secretary Rina Ray.

“The highest ranking KV ranks 175 whereas the highest ranking Delhi Government School, that is Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, Dwarka, ranks 18,” she added.

The analysis throws up yet another interesting finding in shape of government school students registering a higher pass percentage than private school students in as many as 10 subjects, including Political Science, Economics, History, Geography and Accountancy.

This year they also successfully reached parity in performance with public schools. The gap of close to 12 pc (in terms of overall pass percentage) in 2003-04, which was lessening with each passing year, was finally bridged this year.

“However, one achievement that we are really proud of is increasing number of government schools are featuring among the top 100 schools in the Capital. From just one in 2005, we have 10 of our schools among the best 100 this year,” said Ray.

All the 10 schools are Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas (RPVV), which admit the best government schools in the Capital on the basis of an entrance test each year.

RPVV, Shalimar Bagh, which features on the top 100 list, has in fact produced the all-India topper in the physically challenged category.

Anuj Goel was the government school as well as the disabled category topper with 96.6 per cent in Class XII.