BMC to set up 396 balwadis to stem school dropouts

Mumbai: To prevent dropout of students from municipal schools, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to start 396 new balwadis in the city with the help of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In addition to this, it has also decided to affiliate all municipal balwadis to civic schools in the city.

“Though the BMC has municipal schools in all parts of the city, municipal balwadis are less in number due to which parents move to private balwadis for their kids. This also affects the admission of students in municipal schools in future. The increase in the number of balwadis is expected to stop students’ dropout in municipal schools,” said a senior civic official.

A balwadi is an Indian preschool run for economically weaker sections of the society, either by the government or NGOs. According to civic data, there are 504 balwadis in the city. The commissioning of 396 balwadis with the help of NGOs will take the total number of municipal balwadis in the city to 900. Considering that each balwadi has 30 kids, the number of kids in municipal balwadis will reach 27,000.

Of the 396 proposed new balwadis, the highest number i.e. 133 will be Marathi medium, followed by 92 Urdu medium, 87 Hindi, 25 Gujarati and 23 English medium. Six balwadis will be semi-English medium, while one will be under the Mumbai Public School scheme. A majority of the new balwadis will be in the F-North ward (44), followed by H-East (38) and P-North (35) wards.