Sisodia slams shutdown of schools in BJP-ruled states

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia on Wednesday lashed out against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue of the massive shutdown of government schools in BJP ruled states. Sisodia also revealed that enrollment of students in Delhi government schools has increased in the last five years, whereas it has witnessed a huge decrease in the MCD schools, run by the BJP.

The AAP leader said, "Under the AAP government, 20,000 classrooms have been constructed, of which 8,000 is ready and 12,000 is under construction. The AAP government has invested in infrastructure, ensuring green boards in all classrooms and installed 7.5 lakh modular desks in classrooms, apart from sports facilities in schools. The AAP government has built a total of 25 new school buildings, 30 are under construction, 6 Schools of Excellence, and 5 Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas."

Sisodia said, " Meanwhile, the Haryana government has shut down 208 government schools between 2015-2018 and in the same period, the Rajasthan government closed down 4,000 schools. In Punjab 217 government schools have been shut down in the last three years. In UP, more than 40% of the total 1,13,500 primary schools do not have electricity. In Delhi, 109 primary schools were shut down by the BJP ruled MCD in the last nine years. The quality of education delivered in MCD schools is so poor and the lack of grade level learning so evident, that when children pass out from grade V and join a Delhi government school in grade VI, they are unable to read even the books of grade II."

"Enrolment in MCD schools has declined by 1.3 lakh in the last four years whereas the enrollment in Delhi government schools has increased by 6,000. Effectively, this means around 1.36 lakh students from private schools have joined Delhi government schools. The enrollment in elementary schools in BJP and Congress-ruled states has seen a decrease of 14 lakh in UP, 4.2 lakh in Haryana, and 1.03 lakh in Punjab. This data is derived from the Central government data on elementary education," added Sisodia.