AAP releases list of 250 Delhi govt schools, seeks comparison between Kejriwal govt’s model of education with that of Punjab
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday released a list of 250 government schools in Delhi and sought a comparison between the Arvind Kejriwal government’s model of education with that of the Congress dispensation in Punjab, pitching for a big role in the state ahead of the assembly polls.
Releasing the list, Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia invited his Punjab counterpart Pargat Singh to visit the schools here along with media to “witness the revolution” brought by the Kejriwal government in the field of education in past five years.
He also urged Singh to release a list of 250 Punjab government schools where a delegation of AAP can visit along with media and see the work done by the state government to improve their quality and standards as well as students’ performance.
This comes two days after Singh on Friday accepted Sisodia’s challenge for a debate on education models of Delhi government and that of Punjab, saying on twitter, “We will take 250 schools each of Punjab and Delhi instead of 10 schools.”
The AAP, which is the main opposition party in Punjab, is banking on Delhi model of governance and the work done under the leadership of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in education and other sectors to win the state assembly polls due to be held early next year.
“It is a matter of happiness that education is becoming an important issue in the electoral politics. After some announcement made by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal with regard to education in Punjab, the state education minister had said that the current Congress government had done lot of work to improve quality of education in the state and no such work had been done in Delhi,” Sisodia told a press conference.
Following Singh’s remark, he said he invited him to visit some of the Delhi government schools in presence of media to see the work done here to “transform” them and then subsequently a team from Delhi will visit Punjab government schools to understand the work done during the Congress regime.
“Responding to my proposal, Singh said he would like to see 250 schools. So today I am releasing a list of 250 Delhi government schools and invite him to come along with media to see the work that Delhi government has done to improve quality and standard of education,” Sisodia said.
“At the same time, I also humbly request him (Singh) to release a list of 250 government schools in Punjab where work has been done by the Congress government to improve quality of education and students’ performance. We will visit those schools. And, then people will decide which state’s education model is better,” he added.
Sisodia said that Delhi government has developed world class infrastructure in its schools, provided leadership training to the heads of schools from institutions like IIMs and sent teachers abroad for training to provide quality education.
“The result of which is that Delhi’s government schools have become better than private schools. This year the pass percentage of students in Class 12th Board exams remained at 99.96 percent,”
As many as 500 students from Delhi government schools qualified NEET this year while another 500 students qualified JEE Mains and 70 students cleared JEE Advanced, he said.
“I hope he (Punjab education minister) will release a list of 250 government schools by today evening where work has been done on infrastructure, teachers training, curriculum, and students recording outstanding performance in exams and also qualifying NEET and JEE exams. We both will go to see them,” he added