The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday challenged the BJP to compare work done by the latter in the field of education in BJP-ruled municipal corporation schools in Delhi and other States with the work done by the Delhi government-run schools.
“If you like their [BJP’s] model of education, then vote for them. I want to ask the BJP what their model of education is,” said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, while addressing a press conference. “AAP’s education model built schools and increased enrolment, but BJP’s education model shut down schools and lost students,” the Education Minister said.
He said that in Delhi government-run schools, the number of students has increased by 6,000 in the last four years, whereas the enrolment in municipal corporation-run schools has declined by 1.3 lakh during the same period.
“The Haryana government shut down 208 government schools between 2015 and 2018 and in the same period, the Rajasthan government closed 4,000 schools. The state of the erstwhile BJP-Akali-ruled Punjab is no better, with 217 government schools having shut in the last three years. In U.P., more than 40% of a total of 1,13,500 primary schools do not have electricity supply and the children are forced to attend classes in pathetic conditions,” he said.
The senior AAP leader also said that in Delhi, 109 primary schools run by the BJP-ruled municipal corporations have been shut down in the last nine years.
“Under the AAP government, 20,000 classrooms have been constructed, of which 8,000 have already been handed over and 12,000 are under construction. The AAP government has invested significantly in infrastructure, ensuring green boards in all classrooms and installing 7.5 lakh modular desks in classrooms apart from world-class sports facilities in schools. The AAP government has also built a total of 25 new school buildings, 30 are under construction, six Schools of Excellence and five Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas are thriving and transforming the lives of the children of Delhi,” he added.
