CHANDIGARH: Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa, today lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, accusing it of the "gross misuse of administrative authority" by politicising the reconstitution of School Management Committees (SMCs) for the 2025–2027 term.
According to written instructions issued by the state’s education department, school heads have been directed to coordinate with Block Primary Education Officers to submit details of newly constituted SMCs.
However, Bajwa alleged that the so-called “education experts”, to be appointed as members, must be chosen from department-supplied lists that are “stacked with AAP workers chosen on the basis of political loyalty, not professional merit.”
“Instead of empowering local communities, the AAP government is shamelessly using SMCs to install their political cadre at the grassroots level of education,” Bajwa alleged, pointing to a deeply troubling instruction that explicitly demands members be picked from pre-fixed lists aligned with assembly constituencies.
“This is a blatant violation of the democratic spirit in which SMCs were formed. The AAP government is turning our schools into political outposts,” he added.
Drawing parallels with the now widely criticised Punjab Development Commission, Bajwa said this is yet another case of institutional capture by the ruling party.
“Whether it was the Punjab Development Commission or now the SMCs, AAP’s pattern is clear, politicise, infiltrate, and control every level of governance,” he said.
To highlight the discrepancy between the government’s actions and established norms, Bajwa cited the provision made to bring in AAP workers.
The notification states that the School Management Committee may, by a resolution passed by it, invite any person with a special background like education, health, sports and/or industry, as a special invitee member of the School Management Committee.
Bajwa noted that this clause is intended to allow political infiltration. “This is not just an abuse of power, it’s an insult to every honest educator in the state,” Bajwa remarked.
He called upon the Punjab Governor to intervene and demanded an immediate rollback of the politically motivated nomination process. “This is a deliberate subversion of school autonomy. The AAP government must reverse course immediately or prepare to face the anger of Punjab’s citizens. Our children’s education cannot be sacrificed at the altar of political convenience,” Bajwa warned.