Bhushan Slams AAP Government for 'Senselessly Chopping off' Syllabus
Published: 03rd November 2015 11:26 PM | Last Updated: 03rd November 2015 11:26 PM | A+A A-
NEW DELHI: Attacking the AAP government for "senselessly chopping off" school syllabus, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Prashant Bhushan today claimed the move was hurting the education standards in Delhi schools and said it should hand over the task to them if it was unable to improve the quality.
Without naming any state government, Bhushan also slammed the BJP-led dispensations for allegedly including material written by right-wing ideologue Dinanath Batra, and accused them of "spreading superstition" through text books.
Training his guns on his former colleague, Bhushan, who was sacked from AAP in April this year, said, "Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's decision to chop off the school syllabus in senseless ways has led to reducing the quality of education further for children of poor and deprived classes."
Bhushan was speaking at 'Swaraj Abhiyan Youth Summit, a day-long conference organised to discuss problems plauging the education system.
"If Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is unable to improve the standard of education in Delhi's schools, he should hand the task over to Swaraj Abhiyan who will do a better job," Bhushan said.
In September, Sisodia had announced that students upto class eight studying in Delhi government schools will get a relief from carrying heavy bags to schools as the government has decided to reduce the syllabus by 25 per cent.
The Swaraj Abhiyan Youth Summit also passed a resolution on different issues hurting the educational system. The resolution urged government to ensure equal and quality education to the entire student community irrespective of their social and economical status.
After the summit, Swaraj Abhiyan activists also marched towards UGC office in solidarity with the protesting students against the UGC decision to scrap non-Net scholarships.
Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, who was leading the march, said he will hold protest outside the UGC for a minimum 24 hours.
Bhushan said it is "unfortunate that the excellent recommendations of Yashpal Committee Report on curriculum have been implemented only in CBSE schools till date".
He also cited a Allahabad High Court order and said there should be a countrywide statute to ensure that the children of government servants are going to state-run schools.
Referring to the recent move by UGC to scrap non-NET fellowships, Yadav said the resolution criticised the move and said that it is "unacceptable."
He alleged that those officials who had scrapped the non-NET fellowship citing lack of funds are demanding to hike their remunerations for meetings from Rs 2000 to 5000.
Bhushan also alleged that no Hindi text books are available for students in Delhi university.
"We say there was apartheid in South Africa. But I would like to say that there is an apartheid in our education system based on the language. If there were 'Whites Only' boards in Africa, some educational institutions here have put 'English speaking only' boards," Yadav said.