NEW DELHI: In the eye of a storm since Kumar Vishwas’s allegations that he harboured separatist ideas in poll-bound Punjab, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday hit out at opponents saying his government had built 12,000 smart classrooms, which no other state government had been able to achieve.
Kejriwal, who inaugurated 12,430 new smart classrooms with world-class facilities and state-of-the-art infrastructure on Saturday, said his government had planned for 11,000 classrooms but bettered the target by building 12,430 high-tech classrooms across 240 schools in just three years despite the difficulties of the pandemic.
“The person whom they are calling a terrorist, has made such schools where the children of the poor and rich study together. The person whom they are accusing of terrorism is fulfilling the dreams of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh,” he said.
Further stressing his government’s achievements on this front, he said, “We’ve built over 20,000 new classrooms in Delhi in the last seven years. All the state governments and the Centre together haven’t even come close to the figure. On average, a school has 50 rooms; we can consider that we’ve built 250 new schools with these 12,430 classrooms. Had this country met our standard of education 75 years back, this society would’ve touched great heights,” said Kejriwal.
He further added, “Our schools will act as cradles of staunch Deshbhakts. Bhagat Singh gave the slogan of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’; today I give the slogan of ‘Inquilab Zindabad, Shiksha Kranti Zindabad.”
The AAP chief said his dispensation was ready to help state governments in improving their education infrastructure. “I am making an offer today. We are ready to loan our Education Minister Manish Sisodia to any state government, irrespective of whether it is led by the BJP or Congress if it wants to improve its education infrastructure,” Kejriwal said.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said the Delhi government was the only government in India to spend one-fourth of its budget on education. Delhi’s government schools boast of better infrastructure than private schools today, he added. The education minister also shared that as many as 3,70,000 students switched from elite private schools to Delhi’s government schools.