The condition of Aam Aadmi Party’s ideal education model is a matter of concern.

Not only in the country, but in many countries of the world, the Arvind Kejriwal government of Delhi described its education model as exemplary and publicized it as a major achievement of its government, but it was exposed in the Delhi High Court. The court has reprimanded the Education Secretary of Delhi, terming the condition of Delhi’s schools as extremely worrying, sad and inadequate. The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan Singh and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, after taking cognizance, hearing and investigation of a scathing report on this subject presented by advocate Ashok Aggarwal representing the petitioner NGO ‘Social Jurist, a Civil Rights Group’, found that in these schools There are many anomalies such as broken desks, severe shortage of classrooms, lack of clean drinking water, inadequate books and stationery materials. Many schools are running in tin buildings. In one school, 1,800 girls and 1,800 boys study in double shifts. In some classes, students of two classes sit together and study. When the Education Secretary confirmed the poor condition, Justice Manmohan said that due to your negligence both the problem and the crowd in Tihar Jail have increased. Tihar Jail has a capacity of ten thousand prisoners, but there are 23 thousand there. The reason is illiteracy and contaminated education which is ruining the future of the young generation. Kejriwal government has not only done liquor scam but also education scam.

Kejriwal government has prominently listed two initiatives in the name of its achievements, one is education and the other is mohalla clinic. The condition and direction of Delhi’s government schools has not only deteriorated but has also gone into disrepair. The condition of mohalla clinics is also pathetic. Kejriwal, who described the advanced education initiative started from Delhi as exemplary not only for other states of the country but also for the world, has also made the foundation sector of education a victim of corruption. Looking at a basic sector like education from a political perspective and playing with this laboratory for creating advanced human beings is a shameful development. Your government pretended to breathe new life into the schools run by the Delhi government by giving catchy slogans like ‘Education First’ between 2015 and 2024. The Kejriwal government, which talked about rejuvenating all the schools of Delhi by making some schools state-of-the-art, spent crores of rupees on advertisements.

The AAP government, under the leadership of his deputy/Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, took over the Education Ministry, allocated maximum funds for education, implemented new techniques for training teachers and new curriculum for students, and worked to improve the failing infrastructure of schools. Opened and provided money. But the painful conditions of Delhi’s schools presented in the Delhi High Court show that if the government treasury had been spent on schools, then this plight of schools would not have been seen. It is clear that there has been a big scam in the budget allocated in the name of schools, there should be an independent investigation into it. In another petition in the Delhi High Court itself, the fact came to light that more than six lakh children studying in Delhi Government and Delhi Municipal Corporation schools are not able to get the facilities provided under the Right to Education Act like uniforms, teaching materials etc. Have been. It has been said in the petition that as per the rules of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, Delhi Right to Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules and Delhi School Education Act, children should be provided facilities like school uniform, teaching material etc. at the beginning of the academic session. Should be found. The petition states that 2,69,488 students studying in Delhi government schools and 3,83,203 students studying in Delhi Municipal Corporation are deprived of the statutory facilities available under the Right to Education Act. The petition refers to the audit memo dated November 14, 2023, which states that statutory financial facilities are not provided to the students of Delhi Municipal Corporation from the academic session 2016-17. See the irony, how dangerous is the condition of Delhi’s government schools which are promoting them as ideal models for the world. The same room in the school is being used as science lab, art room and library. There are 70 to 80 children in a class. About 4 thousand students study here in both the shifts. There are a total of 15 rooms in the school, but officially this school was declared unsafe 7 years ago.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s education model, which he trumpets day and night. Even in the New York Times, articles are written praising Delhi’s education model. The reality of that education model is very ugly and scary. There is a bad stain on the name of education. A glimpse of which is found in the white paper report of Praja Foundation NGO. This report is mocking Kejriwal’s claim. According to this report, after Arvind Kejriwal came to power, the drop out rate in Delhi government schools has increased. While the drop out rate in government schools was 2.9 percent in the year 2014-15, within two years by 2016-17 the drop out rate increased to 3.4 percent. The figures given in the Delhi Economic Survey 2021-22 are against the promise made by the Chief Minister’s propaganda machinery. These figures are raising questions on the government that if the education system is improving then why is the number of children studying in government schools decreasing year after year. According to the Economic Survey, the number of children studying in government schools in 2014-15 was 15.42 lakh, which decreased to 14.81 lakh in 2017-18.

In the report released by the National Commission for Protection of Children regarding the education system of Delhi, problems like lack of principal in schools, drop out, student-teacher ratio etc. came to the fore. According to this report, the learning ability of Delhi students is less than the national average. In contrast to admission in government schools, there has been a steady increase in the number of students taking admission in private schools. In the year 2014-15, the number of children studying in private schools in Delhi was 13.47 lakh, which increased to 17.82 lakh in 2020-21. That is, in the span of 6 years from 2014-15 to 2020-21, while the number of children enrolled in private schools in Delhi increased by 4 lakh 85, the number of children enrolled in government schools increased by only 78 thousand. increased. False and misleading claims of reforming the government school system have a strong role in AAP’s landslide victory again in the 2020 assembly elections, but now its truth is slowly being revealed layer by layer. The falling education level and lack of basic facilities in the government schools of Delhi during the golden period of independence is an infamous stain on the AAP government and is a sign of a major failure. The question is who cares about our education? The question is also that for how long will the AAP government continue to mislead the innocent people of Delhi on the basis of false propaganda and claims? For how long will your claims of bringing ‘revolution’ in school education continue to play with the future of children?

– Lalit Garg

Writer, Journalist, Columnist