In a current interview, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) nationwide convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal claimed {that a} Dalit voter in Punjab had come to him and mentioned that he would vote for AAP. “I asked him why not” [Punjab CM] Charanjit Singh Channi, who claims to be the messiah of Dalits. He mentioned that AAP has reworked authorities colleges in Delhi and it is just training that may change individuals’s lives.
In a state the place creed and faith have lengthy managed electoral politics, training has emerged as one of many major points, with the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress the 2 major contenders, who’re concerned in politics, dialogue and debate. are concerned. There has even been a Twitter conflict between the training ministers of Punjab and Delhi – led by the Congress and AAP governments respectively – finally forcing different events to specify their very own roadmap for college and better training. Did.
The political one-upmanship started early final yr, when the state was declared the highest performer within the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20, launched by the Union training ministry, forward of elections.
The Punjab authorities, led by Captain Amarinder Singh on the time, tried its finest to take credit score for the rankings, with Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia suggesting it was rigged, saying that Punjab’s high rank “Modiji called Captain Amarinder Singh”. The rain of blessings on the lion” was the result. , He further added, “The unusual factor is that this report has been launched at a time when persons are questioning the efficiency and inadequacy of the Punjab authorities in training.”
Amarinder hit again, terming these allegations as “atrocious”. “Come to Punjab and I will show you my schools. If you are really interested in improving Delhi’s education system, maybe you should do a ‘jugalbandi’ with me and I will teach you how to manage things better,” the previous CM had mentioned.
Then in November final yr, a Twitter conflict broke out between Punjab Education Minister Pargat Singh and Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia. Sisodia steered that Pargat and he collectively go to 10 colleges every in Delhi and Punjab.
Responding to Sisodia’s invitation, Pargat tweeted, “However, as a substitute of 10 colleges, we’ll take 250-250 colleges from Punjab and Delhi and evaluate them on the National PGI Index. We will debate on faculty infrastructure and variety of good colleges…”
Sisodia then launched a listing of 250 “best” colleges in Delhi and challenged Pargat to do the identical. Pargat had then referred to as Delhi’s training mannequin “fake” and issued a set of 14 questions for the Kejriwal authorities to reply.
The Twitter conflict quickly hit the bottom. On December 1 final yr, Sisodia reached Chamkaur Sahib, the constituency of CM Channi, and claimed to have “exposed” the actual situation of the colleges. He alleged that colleges didn’t have sufficient academics and ingesting water amenities, bathrooms had been non-functional, and school rooms had been filled with traps and rubbish.
About 20 days later, Channi visited these colleges once more to “expose the lies you are spreading”. He did a Facebook Live, claiming that the colleges that Sisodia visited had been among the many ‘finest’ colleges.
Arvind Kejriwal was not removed from motion. On November 27 final yr, he joined a protest in opposition to contractual academics in Mohali and promised to regularize them if AAP got here to energy. State Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, in flip, joined a protest in opposition to contractual academics in Delhi close to Kejriwal’s residence on December 5 and later tweeted, tagging Kejriwal, ‘Practice what you preach!’
Shiromani Akali Dal President and former Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal was additionally to not be left behind. Calling Kejriwal’s Delhi mannequin “fake”, he introduced that if voted to energy, his authorities would arrange a mega authorities faculty with a energy of 5,000 college students in every block, with one instructor for each 50 youngsters.
Among different measures, Badal promised that 33% of seats in larger instructional establishments can be reserved for presidency faculty college students.
Away from this political tussle, grassroots academics and specialists say that whereas the concentrate on training and colleges has helped to some extent, a lot stays to be carried out. He additionally factors out how each the Congress authorities in Punjab and the AAP authorities in Delhi are dragging college students and academics into politics to outdo one another.
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In the final 5 years, the state authorities claims to have transformed at the very least 13,844 authorities colleges into ‘good colleges’ (about 72% of the state’s 19,200 authorities colleges) with amenities like LED screens, projectors, good school rooms, audio . visible aids. Changes have additionally been made to the college buildings.
The state authorities had additionally launched ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’, a program that was the brainchild of former state faculty training secretary Krishan Kumar, to “improve learning levels” amongst youngsters.
However, critics of the federal government say that many of those modifications are beauty and that coloured partitions alone might not carry much-needed change in studying ranges. Many academics mentioned they had been compelled to boost funds or pitch in with their very own funds to make these modifications.
State President of Government Teachers Association Sukhwinder Singh Chahal mentioned, “The authorities began pre-primary courses, which was an excellent step, however there aren’t any particular academics for them. Single instructor colleges nonetheless exist and never all colleges have topic sensible academics…”
Teachers imagine that the explanation for the concentrate on training is as a result of “sustained efforts” of a number of instructor teams to spotlight wrongdoings and loopholes within the system via protests.
State President of Democratic Teachers Front Vikram Dev Singh mentioned, “No political occasion talks on any problem, if there isn’t a revolt among the many individuals. Like the farmers who endured in calling for repeal of agricultural legal guidelines, the instructor actions in Punjab needs to be given credit score for changing into an election problem of training. We can’t be used solely as a vote financial institution. The training coverage and studying course of is supreme, but the federal government has didn’t carry a brand new training coverage for the state. Also, no new academics have been recruited for the first class. Government in-service coaching facilities have been closed and academics are nonetheless on election responsibility.
At least 17 academics’ unions throughout all classes – from unemployed BEd graduates to contract academics – are at the moment protesting in opposition to the federal government over numerous points. College and college academics are additionally protesting in opposition to the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission.
Teachers additionally complain that they’re nonetheless referred to as upon for election responsibility and further work, though Congress promised in 2017 that “teachers will only teach”.
Experts additionally say that the large-scale migration of scholars from personal to authorities colleges in colleges through the pandemic made colleges a subject of debate.
Harpreet Dua, a former syndicate member of Panjab University in Chandigarh, mentioned the mass exodus of youth from the state has additionally compelled individuals and politicians to talk up about training. “There isn’t any job or any alternative left right here for the scholars. Not solely the federal government and personal sector, but additionally the industries have failed to supply them employment. Delhi’s mannequin of training is for city areas whereas Punjab wants an urban-rural mannequin.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
