NEW DELHI: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday defended education department’s information gathering process as he said the Election Commission should not look like it’s supporting “education mafia”, which is functioning in Delhi schools.
Sisodia also hit out at the Centre for denying him a permission to visit Austria, where he was supposed to represent the Delhi government’s innovative ‘happiness classes’, which started three months ago in government-run schools.
According to the Delhi’s education minister, the voter IDs of parents have been asked just as an address proof of their children. “We have been noticing that many schools have been fudging with the number of students on paper. During the inquiry we found that a few schools have just 15 students, but on paper the number is 50. We are not going to throw out any student. Under the Right to Education Act, education is a right of every child but we will not support education mafia.”
Sisodia also added the Election Commission should focus more on ensuring elections are held properly rather than stopping the government from doing its work.
In a data collection drive that started in September, the Delhi government had asked all the schools, public and private, to compile comprehensive data of all students, their guardians and siblings, with their mobile numbers, voter ID details and educational qualifications.
Objecting strongly to the Delhi government, the EC ordered the state government to stop this exercise. The EC and the Aam Aadmi Party have been at loggerheads over the past few months as the latter has accused the election body of deleting names of lakhs of voters from the voting list, without following the due process.
The issue was also discussed at the recently held Special Assembly session, where the members passed a resolution asking the Delhi Chief Election Officer to put the names of deleted voters on the website for public. The Deputy CM said, “It is for the first time in the history that people from other countries are coming to Delhi in order to understand the education model that we are implementing here but the Centre does not give us the permit; without giving any reason they reject the application, same thing they did with Satyendra Jain a few days ago.”
“But let me tell Modi, how many hurdles you try to create in our development work, we will succeed.”
The tussle between AAP and EC
In a drive that started in September, the Delhi government had asked all the schools, public and private, to compile comprehensive data of all students, their guardians and siblings, with their mobile numbers, voter ID details and educational qualifications