School education: AAP's accusation 'atrocious', says Punjab CM Amarinder Singh

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday described it as "atrocious" the Aam Aadmi Party’s accusation that he has a "secret" friendship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The chief minister said this reacting to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia's statement after Punjab was ranked number one in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for school education by the Centre. Claiming that Punjab’s government schools have poor facilities for students and parents prefer to send their children to private ones, Sisodia on Saturday suggested that Punjab secured the top position as CM Amarinder Singh has a "secret" friendship with PM Modi.

In a hard-hitting reply to the allegation, the CM said the AAP leadership is so "obsessed" with electoral politics that it saw poll conspiracies even in something as basic as school education. The fact is that AAP, which "failed" to make a dent in Punjab's political arena over the past over four years, beginning with its poor performance in the 2017 elections, can see the rout which it is facing in the 2022 Assembly elections, he said in a statement.

"Come to Punjab and I will show you around our schools," said Amarinder to Sisodia, adding that the revamp of the state's schools was an exercise undertaken by his government as a top priority and the ranking released by the Union Education Minister recently reflected the success of those efforts.

'Schools undergone a massive transformation'

"If you are really interested in improving the education system of Delhi, may be you should do a 'jugalbandi’ with me and I will teach you how to manage things better," the chief minister said in a derisive response to Sisodia's charge. From a ranking of 22 on the earlier index when he took over as the chief minister, Punjab's school education has undergone a massive transformation, said Amarinder Singh.

"Your political dialogues cannot undermine this success," he said, terming Sisodia's comments as an obvious case of "sour grapes" since the NCR Delhi stood sixth in the list. Expressing shock at the AAP leader's "shameful" attempt to give a political colour to the "excellent outcomes" of the hard work and commitment of thousands of schoolteachers, administrators and officials, Amarinder Singh said it is evident that Arvind Kejriwal's party is used to seeing everything from the telescope of politics.

Little wonder then that Delhi continues to be deprived of even basic amenities like education, health, safe drinking water even after six years of the Kejriwal rule, he said. Pointing to the "sad and sorry spectacle" of people gasping for breath at the peak of the second surge of Covid in Delhi, the CM said the much-touted Kejriwal model of governance is nothing but a hype created by the media, which was benefitting from the massive advertising budgets of the AAP government in the national capital.

From the highly publicised Mohalla clinics to the school education system, the entire model of the Delhi government has been thoroughly "exposed" for nothing more than a hollow claim being perpetuated by AAP's media and social media machinery, he said. Kejriwal was so busy promoting his image that he seemed to have forgotten to make any investments on the ground, said Amarinder Singh.

The chief minister claimed his government had, in contrast, invested in the development of key sectors like education and health in a consistent manner over the past four years. As many as 14,000 schools have been converted into smart schools as part of a focused strategy, comprising launch of pre-primary education, best-in-class digital education infrastructure, innovative teaching methods, administrative reforms, transparency in recruitment and transfer of teachers, he said.

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