BJP leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, slammed the Aam Aadmi Party government for claiming to have the finest education model in the country. Bidhuri declared a Kejriwal’s claims are a farce and that the situation on the ground is dire. He also gave some statistics to back up his claim that Delhi’s education system is in disarray. The AAP government’s chest-thumping on education reform in Delhi does not correspond to factual results.
As per the Performance Grading Index of 2019-2020, Delhi does not even stand in the top 5 of the lists, which includes all the states and the Union Territories. Delhi’s position is sixth on the complete list. Going into further detail, one can see how the boast of Delhi having the best performance in the country in the sector of education is simply a sham.
In the performance in the domain of learning outcome, Delhi stands in the 32nd position among all states and UTs. Delhi is in the 6th position from the bottom. This implies that even after hefty spending in the name of education, students of schools in Delhi are performing very poorly. Going deeper into this domain, they found performing students was decreasing with an increase in their standards. This again exposes the claim of the best education system in the country.
The score of Delhi is 124 in the learning outcome domain, whereas Uttar Pradesh has got 132 marks. This makes us discern that even with comparatively lower equity and access, along with not so good infrastructure, students in schools of UP are performing better than those of Delhi. Even with infrastructure, Delhi is not the best. Delhi stands second to Punjab in this category. Bidhuri emphasised that the condition of Delhi University colleges funded by the Delhi Government is very poor. The government cannot pay salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff in the colleges fully funded by the Delhi government. Delhi Universities experiencing a funding crisis even as AAP boasts about its superior education model.
Nishant Varma, Political Analyst said, “Education Standards per se are suffering in Delhi for some years now due to misgovernance by Kejriwal, which is more focused on the propaganda of projecting more classrooms (built-in existing schools) than making new schools (not even one built) as well lowering the operational standards with several schools running with Principals as well staff. Delhi is far behind States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu in ranking and in a slow process more states inching ahead to beat Delhi out, as per available Niti Aayog Data. However, certain Right-Wing media and BJP leaders claim Delhi to have fallen to 32nd Rank in the National Rating, which is a Farce, they have not even referred to Niti Aayog and are usually peddling fake information, which is no surprise to anyone as it reflects the DNA of BJP. Mr Sisodiya had started off on a constructive note in 2014, however, seems to have lost the Plot.”
According to a November 2021 news report, 12 Delhi University colleges financed by the Delhi government are experiencing a funding crisis since their assigned funds have been reduced.
Subodh Kumar, chief of the Maharaja Agrasen College staff association and coordinator of all 12 colleges, explained the scenario, saying professors want the teaching-learning process to continue, but the state government is not allowing it. Kumar called it ‘inhuman treatment,’ and said teachers will be obliged to show in order to fight the government’s arm-twisting. They have compelled teachers to resign because of the issue, he claimed. Then they (govt) alleged corruption in colleges and despite various audits, they found nothing. After the pandemic, they said they don’t have money and slashed the budget.
Earlier we (the college) were getting Rs 28 crore which has been brought down to Rs 16 crore,” he further added. In Delhi government schools, vocational trainers were hired in 2015, but their pay has remained the same since then. On October 20, 2019, Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia promised Vocational Trainers at Thyagaraj Stadium that their salaries will be increased as soon as possible, however, it is already 2022, and the pay has not been raised. Similar is the case with guest teachers in schools and colleges who have been assured of pay hikes but nothing solid has manifested to date.
EducationWorld in association with C fore presents the EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) 2021-22 that rates and ranks India’s best and top schools in over 300 cities. To compile EWISR 2021-22, 11,458 sample respondents — educationists, principals, teachers, SECA (socio-economic category A) parents and senior school students — in 28 cities countrywide were interviewed by 118 C forefield researchers over a period of four months (June-September). The annual EWISR is the world’s largest school ranking survey.
