NEW DELHI: The issue of Delhi government’s proposal to send government teachers for training in Finland has turned into a debate over the city’s education system. Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V K Saxena and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are again at the loggerheads, this time on an issue that the party has always projected as a trophy of its Delhi development model.
A day after Saxena criticized the education system and flagged the falling average attendance of the students studying in government schools, the city government unleashed a vicious attack on him and called the data shared as cooked-up figures.
In a letter written to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, the L-G had stated that the average attendance in government schools has been falling every year, dropping to 60.65 per cent in 2019-2020 from 70.73 per cent in 2012-2013. He also questioned the AAP dispensation’s claims on students migrating from private schools to government schools.
In a sharp reaction to this, Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisiodia accused Saxena of making “false allegations” against the education department and “mocking” the teachers. “The L-G wrote the letter with a political motive and said that no work has been done in the Education Department of Delhi. His allegations are an insult to the students and teachers of Delhi,” Sisodia said.
He also responded to Saxena with a letter. “Students at Delhi government-run schools have registered a pass percentage of 99.6... While the L-G alleged that the number of students in government schools of Delhi decreased from 16 lakh to 15 lakh, the reality is that the number of students increased to 18 lakh. Our education department has also transformed the infrastructure of the schools. The ‘tent wale schools’ have now turned into ‘talent wale schools’,” Sisodia’s letter to Saxena read.
Later, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj challenged Saxena to compare his children’s education with Delhi students. “With a lot of effort, the education system of Delhi has improved. And then, someone from Gujarat comes and insults the kids of Delhi-by getting front page articles published. This is a matter of shame,” he said. “The children of Delhi are more capable than the LG’s children.... What education has he given to his children and what education is CM giving to the children of Delhi?” he added.