CHENNAI: It is the duty of every government to provide good quality and free education to the students, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after launching 26 schools of excellence and 15 model schools along with Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday.
Stalin also launched the Pudhumai Penn scheme on Teacher's day to encourage girl students to pursue higher education. Under the scheme girl students, who studied from Class 6 to Class 12 in state government schools would be paid monthly assistance of Rs 1,000.
Speaking at the event, Kejriwal lauded the initiatives taken by the DMK government in the education sector. He stressed that almost 66% students in the country study in Government schools and there is an urgent need to work on improving the quality of these schools.
"We all want our country to be a developed nation, but how we will achieve it if we provide rotten education to our students," said Kejriwal.
Highlighting how Stalin replicated Delhi's model school in the state, Kejriwal said, "We might belong to different political parties, but there is so much of good work that each government in each State is doing. And it is extremely important that we learn from each other, ". He also urged that state governments and Centre should come together to improve the quality of education in government schools.
Stalin, addressing the gathering, listed out the reforms and various schemes launched by the DMK governments for the welfare of women and also their education.
Stalin also stated that to help poor girls, he had launched a marriage financial support and gold scheme and now the government has launched the Padhumai Penn scheme to encourage economically backward families to educate their girl child. He also announced that a sum of Rs 25 crore would be allocated for Bharathi Women's College for the construction of classrooms and other infrastructure.
The event was held at the state-run Bharathi Women’s College.