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| - Fact Check: First Indian virtual school in Delhi? Kejriwal govt gets schooled
While inaugurating the Delhi Model Virtual School on August 31, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that this was the country's first virtual school.
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India Today Fact Check
Virtual schools in India, both private and government-run, have existed in India for a while now — even as early as 2020.
While inaugurating the Delhi Model Virtual School on August 31, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that this was the country’s first virtual school. Kejriwal said, “Today, we are inaugurating the country’s first virtual school in Delhi,” adding that it was about a year back that his government had announced this plan.
https://t.co/PIms2geisB — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 31, 2022
Following this, many on social media pointed out that the Delhi Model Virtual School was not India’s first virtual school, referring to older headlines referring to other virtual schools in different parts of the country.
AFWA’s investigation found there is more than enough evidence to suggest Kejriwal’s claim does not stand. Archived versions of tweets calling out the Delhi CM’s claims can be seen here and here.
So, what actually is a virtual school?
Virtual school is a broad term and somewhat difficult to define precisely. During the Covid-19 pandemic, most schools in India had shifted to virtual modes — students and teachers interacted online and not in physical classrooms. So for a while, most Indian schools were virtual.
Is the Delhi Model Virtual School the first of its kind in India?
According to a Delhi government circular, the Delhi Model Virtual School will be governed by the Delhi Schools of Specialised Excellence and is affiliated with the Delhi Board of School Education.
The circular claims it is the “first online government school,” and it aims to provide “free access to Delhi's education model for children from anywhere” and a “seamless learning experience through live classes, recorded sessions, assignments and assessments, curated videos, tutorials, and personalised mentoring sessions” among other things.
However, this is not the first online government school.
The Centre launched the National Institute of Open Schooling in August 2021. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated this digital schooling system for eligible students who were unable attend a brick-and-mortar school. “This school is a new model of learning and is an example of how leveraging technology and innovation can facilitate greater inclusion in education," Pradhan said at the time. “The school is the first-of-its-kind initiative in India, which will provide advanced digital learning platforms via virtual live classrooms and labs, etc." This was more than a year ago.
AFWA spoke to Professor Saroj Sharma, the chairperson of the National Institute of Open Schooling, who called it the world's largest open school programme. She said about 25 lakhs students had enrolled in it so far.
Private initiatives in virtual schooling
About two years ago, in October 2020, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated Global Seas Institute in Dehradun. The institute's founder Reena Prakash Tyagi told AFWA that it was the first “fully-virtual home school in India.”
Even in April 2021, when the Aam Aadmi Party government had announced its plans to establish India's first virtual school, his claim was fact-checked. The report mentioned many such ventures already operating at that time.
So, whether private or government-run, virtual schools are certainly not a novel concept.
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