Congress vs AAP: Punjab Min alleges 'Kejriwal govt running fake education model' in Delhi

Hitting out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over its education policies in the national capital, Punjab Education Minister Pargat Singh on Wednesday alleged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia for making fake promises to the people under the former's model of education. 

In a long series of tweets, Pargat Singh started by attacking Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia, asking him for the list of 250 schools and their performance, just like he promised. Further striking at Kejriwal, he raised several questions and tweeted, "Arvind Kejriwal Ji, what do you want to hide? Why are you saving Sisodia Ji and letting him do nautanki? Today, I will expose the Kejriwal Model of Education. Here are my questions..."

Apart from that, he also sought a comparison of Delhi's education model with that of Punjab's and added that the 10th standard results of Delhi government schools were worse than that of Sheila Dixit's government. Further, Singh noted that the 10th standard result of students in Punjab government schools has consistently improved since Congress came into power.

Meanwhile, in another tweet, he spoke about the recruitment of teachers in the state-led schools, saying that 42% of positions for permanent teachers are vacant in Delhi schools. "Why did you betray 20,000 guest teachers in Delhi? Why did you fail to recruit even one permanent teacher?", he added. Pargat Singh also pointed out the vacancies in government schools for the positions of principals, vice principals, and non-teaching staff. 

The education sector in Punjab has improved since Congress came into power: Pargat Singh

Lauding the Punjab government's efforts towards developing the education sector in the state, Education Minister Pargat Singh outlined that around 9,000 new teachers have been recruited in the last four years and 20,000 more are expected by December. Out of them, recruitment of 10,000 master cadres and 2,000 physical education teachers have already been approved by the Punjab government, he added.

He also said that the student-teacher ratio in Punjab is 24:1 which is the best in the country. Pargat Singh, who was also addressing a press conference regarding the same, made his statements in front of the reporters, raising a number of questions on the Delhi government regarding their education model and questioning the "Fake Education model of Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi".

Twitter battle between Education Ministers of Delhi and Punjab

The ongoing Twitter battle between the education ministers of Delhi and Punjab seems to have escalated with time. This started when Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia invited Punjab Education Minister Pargat Singh to visit government schools in both the states following Singh's desire to debate on the education system. To this, Singh reacted by seeking a list of 250 schools from both the states for comparison.

Later, Sisodia after issuing the list, blamed the Punjab Education Minister for running away from the argument, to which Singh remarked that the Delhi government was in a hurry to respond and forgot to compare the parameters of the National Performance Grading Index 2021. He also sought a list of school-wise enrollment numbers, permanent teachers vacancies, 10th results, and the names of principals.

Image: ANI