Student-Teacher Ratio: 97% non-compliant govt schools are run by MCDs, says Sisodia

New Delhi: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday afternoon presented data from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus 2019-20 report, which showed that of all the government schools in the Capital that have a shortage of teachers, 97.28 per cent are run by the municipal corporations of Delhi.

Taking up this data, Sisodia, who is also Delhi education minister, flayed the BJP-run MCD administrations, saying, "The Modi's government's report on the status of school education confirms that the BJP-ruled MCDs have made a mess of the schools under them in the last 20 years."

According to the data presented by Sisodia, which showed the schools' compliance with RTE-mandated Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR), out of a total of 2,663 government-run schools in the city, 774 do not comply with the minimum requirement of teachers for their student population.

Significantly, of these 774 schools, 753 are run by Delhi's three municipal corporations. The rest 21 are run by the Delhi government's Department of Education.

The data showed that the East MCD had the most percentage of schools that did not meet the minimum requirement for teachers at 57.7 per cent. followed by the North MCD at 45.86 per cent and lastly the South MCD at 38.9 per cent. Out of all 1,638 schools run by the three MCDs, over 45 per cent were found to be non-compliant with the RTE-mandated PTR.

As for the 1,025 schools in the city run by the Department of Education, 1,004 or nearly 98 per cent were found to be compliant with the RTE-mandated PTR, as per the report.

Presenting the data, Sisodia said, "BJP government at Centre has corroborated that BJP-ruled MCDs have made a mess of the MCD schools in Delhi. The mismanagement is so stark that MCD schools are considered the worst in the country. This is tarnishing the image of Delhi. BJP with its poor governance and incompetence in MCDs has put the future of lakhs of children at risk."

Referring to the report, Delhi's education minister said, "This establishes the fact that BJP-ruled MCDs are so incompetent that, they haven't been able to provide teachers to their students."

The senior AAP leader said that while the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government had poured in resources to build infrastructure, recruit teachers and send them to foreign countries for training, and launch new-age curriculum; the BJP hadn't been able to provide teachers and basic facilities in the MCD schools.

Sisodia said, "BJP leaders need to look beyond the 'WhatsApp University' and feel ashamed of the deteriorating conditions of MCD schools due to 20 years of their mismanagement. Delhi government has left no stones unturned in improving the conditions of its schools which is also reflected in the UDISE report. But BJP leaders keep falsely accusing Arvind Kejriwal rather than focusing on improving the MCD schools."