Congress leader Ajay Maken on Tuesday said since the Aam Aadmi Party came to power, more students have started studying in private schools than Delhi government schools whereas during the end of the Congress rule in the Capital, it was the opposite.
The Congress leader was responding to a tweet by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in which the latter shared a news article that said over two lakh students from private schools were seeking admission in government schools. He commented that this was happening for the first time in India.
“For the first time in Delhi, in 2019, it happened that more children are studying in private schools than in government ones. Statistics show that 16.47 lakh students were studying in Delhi government schools while 16.61 lakh were studying in private schools,” Mr. Maken said. He said in 2013-14 there were 4.18 lakh more children studying in Delhi government schools than private schools.
In a tweet, Mr. Maken asked Mr. Kejriwal to explain how the government was claiming that it had brought about an education revolution when there was a reduction of 1.28 lakh children in government schools from 2013 to 2019 and a rise of 3.04 lakh children in private schools in the same period.
A source in the Delhi government said that total enrolment in government schools reached 17.67 lakh for the session 2021-22 as against the 16.28 lakh in 2020-21. Data for total enrolment in private schools for the current session is not available yet.