The Punjab government is all set to take a leaf out of Delhi’s book of development and education, State Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said on Monday.
Mr. Mann, who is on a two-day visit to the Capital, was taken on a tour of Delhi government schools, hospitals and mohalla clinics by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and was explained the changes brought about by the Aam Aadmi Party.
Speaking after the visit, Mr. Mann said, “I thought such schools could only exist in U.S.-Canada. Not even private schools can offer such quality. These schools have big swimming pools, large multipurpose halls and state-of-the-art laboratories. We will take major strides towards the progress and betterment of Punjab following the Kejriwal government’s footsteps.”
Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann and Manish Sisodia at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Specialised Excellence in Kalkaji on Monday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
He added that the country will only progress when will States learn from one another and the Punjab government will borrow suggestions from Delhi to reform its schools.
After attending a Happiness class, Deshbhakti class and interacting with students in the Business Blasters programme, Mr. Mann said: “I talked to the students, many of whom had joined the [government] school after leaving big private institutions. Like Delhi, we will put full emphasis on education in Punjab as well. Soon, you will get to see world-class smart schools being developed in Punjab where both rich and poor will study on the same desk.”
Speaking about his visit to a mohalla clinic, Mr. Mann said he met people who said they opted for these clinics as they were closer to home and provided homelike care. “I will take along a blueprint of Delhi’s education and health models for us to adapt. Unlike Delhi, where there was a challenge of space, there is plenty of space in Punjab. We make the best use of our land; we will transform the smallest of our local schools. We will transform the State and put all our effort into Punjab’s progress and growth,” Mr. Mann said.
Full assistance promise
Tweeting about Mr. Mann’s visit, Mr. Kejriwal wrote, “Bhagwant Mann ji visited one of Delhi’s luxurious hospitals and world-famous mohalla clinics. He was very impressed, he expressed his wish to build similar hospitals and clinics in Punjab too. We will extend all possible help to the Punjab government to provide world-class health facilities to the people of the State.”
During the day, the delegation from Punjab was taken to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Specialised Excellence, Kalkaji, a mohalla clinic in Chirag Enclave, Kautilya Government Sarvodaya Co-ed Vidyalaya, Chirag Enclave and the Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital.
False propaganda: BJP
Reacting to the Punjab Chief Minister’s visit, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the events organised during the day were an exercise in “false propaganda”.
Mr. Bidhuri said out of 1,027 government schools in Delhi, 203 did not have principals, and a notice regarding the same had been sent from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to the Delhi government. “There are no vice-principals in 418 schools and 24,000 posts of teachers are lying vacant. Guest teachers were appointed to 22,000 posts but none of them were made permanent. In eight years, the Delhi government could not open a single new school, but 16 schools were closed,” Mr. Bidhuri said.
“If the real condition of Delhi’s schools is to be shown, then show schools in Mustafabad where 6,000 children are taught in tents and there are more than 100 children in each class against the sanctioned strength of 40, as per the norms,” the BJP leader added.
Similarly, the mohalla clinics in Delhi had proved to be “white elephants” during the COVID pandemic even as the city, he alleged, was facing a shortage of trained doctors.
He said the Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, visited by Mr. Mann, witnessed the deaths of 235 patients during the insertion of heart stents in the last two years, the Delhi Legislative Assembly was informed recently in response to a question.
“The Kejriwal government should rise above this guise of false propaganda and do some work for the people of Delhi as the public is fed up with these spectacles of his,” Mr. Bidhuri said.
