Lies, Damned Lies, and Propaganda

 

RTI findings exposed the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) claim that school education in Delhi has been reverberating in the last five year under their Government. An RTI query by a Delhi resident Tejpal Singh on how many new schools have been opened by AAP Government during April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2019 was replied back with just one name- Senior Secondary School at Rajiv Ratan Yojna, Baprola, Delhi. While in an another RTI query by Delhi resident Neeraj Sharma on liquor shop licenses in Delhi provided with opening of many new shops every year, i.e. 133 during 2015-19. Now, this grim picture warrants an objective inquiry into the state of affairs of education in Delhi. Are the high claims of the AAP Government really true? If the AAP is to be believed in the last 5 years a lot of work has been done in the field of education in Delhi. They are also calling it ‘education revolution’. The party has made claims of ‘good education to all’ in its report card and has mainly described the achievement of the increase in education budget, new rooms and better results of class XII. However, the party did not give any account of all its promises made before the 2015 elections, which it had made to the people of Delhi. Not only this, the party is also trying to create this atmosphere by showing photos of two to four schools of counting, it has created history in education.

 

 

 

It is being claimed about Delhi that Government education has become so much better that children are leaving private schools for the former. A news was circulated that some 900 children left private schools for Government schools. Education Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia claims that now people are ready to enter government schools to take admission. But if we look at the government statistics, then we will know that in the last 4 years, where two and a half lakh children increased in private schools, one and a half lakh children in the Government schools decreased. According to the Economic Survey, there were 992 Government schools in Delhi in 2013-14, and more than 16 lakh children were studying in them. Some new Government schools were approved by the previous governments by 2019-20 and the number of schools increased by 38. But the number of children came down to 14 lakhs. During the same period, 558 private schools were closed down. Despite this, the number of students studying in private schools increased by 2 lakh 64 thousand by 2017-18 as compared to 2013-14.

 

Education Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia 

 

It is important to note here that enrollment in Delhi’s Government schools had been lesser had they not opened primary section in their schools for closing down the MCD schools. Following the defeat in the 2017 MCD election, primary and nursery sections were opened in more than 300 schools to restrict the declining enrollment, even though there was no intention to impart quality education for children. If we consider the report of the famous survey ‘Asar’ in the education sector recently, then the trend of sending girls to Government schools and the boys to private school has increased. But when we examine the Delhi Government schools, it works the other way round. Poor parents of Delhi are now preferring to send their daughters to private schools. If we look at the report of the Economic Survey of Delhi in 2019, in the last 4 years, despite the increase in the number of Government schools, the enrollment of girls has decreased by 33,000, while the number of girls enrolled in private schools has increased by about 1.25 lakh. If the survey report is to be believed, then the rate at which Delhi’s population increased, the rate of increase in the number of children attending schools did not increase. In 2014-15, there were 44.10 lakh children in all Government and private schools of Delhi, by 2018 it came down to 43 lakh. That is, even today there are thousands of such children in Delhi, who are out of schools or are dropouts. The question arises that when the government made Delhi’s government schools better, then why are the children getting reduced?

 

No Place for the Poor

The biggest issue remains in Delhi today that when education revolution took place in Delhi, why about half of the children are failing every year in the class IX? It is interesting that someone should also make claims of giving world class education to all children and fail them out of schools in large numbers. This is not the case even in UP and Bihar, which Delhi’s leaders compare a lot with. In the last 2-3 decades, so many children have never failed in the Class IX. Leave out exceptions, half of the children are not removed in Class IX in any private school in the country. In the last 5 years, almost half or more than 4 lakh children failed in 9th, 11th one-third ie more than one lakh children were failed. These were the children of the poor. The most dangerous trend is the drop out of thousands of children every year after failing in Classes IX and XI. In the last 5 years, a large number of children have dropped out after Class IX. In 2017, while 35,000 children dropped out, some 67,000 poor children were sent to correspondence mode of learning, where neither regular education nor permanent teacher is there.

 

 

If the Praja Foundation’s report is considered, then the condition of not paying attention to the children is that only 2% of the children can pass the Xth examination. Thousands of poor children were expelled. Today these children are struggling not only in child labour but in their lives away from studies. If we see the connection of the increase in incidents of child crime with the large number of dropouts from the schools, then every Delhi resident feel heartbroken. If we talk about 2017-2018 only, two-thirds of children from class IX to XII were not given admission. The most unfortunate part was that 91% of the children who failed in the X and XII boards were not give admission again. Out of 1,55,436 children, 1,02,854 children were thrown out of schools by not giving admission. The situation is that children are going to court again and again, if they do not give admission to the failed children again. Yet this process continues unabated.

 

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal taking rest from the election campaign made a video on January 26 and said that the result of Government schools in Delhi is 96%. 96% of the results were only for the XII examination, in which only one and a quarter lakh students were sitting. But Kejriwal called it the result of the hard work of 16 lakh children. In the Class XII result, Delhi has been doing better from much before. From 2007-08 to 2014, more than 85% consecutive results were received. But today when it comes to the result, it is said that for the first time, the Government schools overtook the private. This is completely wrong. Even in 2009 and 2010, Delhi’s Government schools overtook the private schools. In 2005, the children of Delhi’s Government schools were trailing by 13 points in the XII, in the last year in 2009 and now they are ahead. But Kejriwal describes the result of XII, as a result of the hard work of children and teachers, why do they not tell that the children appearing in the 12th examination are declining every year! From 2005 to 2014, the number of children sitting in 12th standard in Delhi increased from 60,570 to 166,257. After the coming of the Kejriwal Government, it came down steadily to 1,12,826. In 4 years, 54,000 children were reduced. The population of Delhi did not decrease, then the children fell due to this reason because they are being removed by failing.

 

While there is a lot of discussions on Class XII results by the AAP leaders, Class X results are not discussed at all. Why? Because the Class X result is only 71% in Delhi. Today’s Class X result in Delhi’s Government schools is less than UP and Bihar, which once used to be highest in the country. 13 years ago i.e. in 2006-07, Delhi’s pass percentage was 77.12%. In 2013, the children of Delhi’s Government schools not only beat the private schools, but also set a record of better results. In that year 99.46% children passed Class X. Since the AAP government was formed in 2015, the results have been deteriorating every year. From 98% in 2015 to 92% in 2017, and then again to 68% in 2018.

 

Pushing Science Aside The Education Minister of Delhi makes many claims of developing scientific temper, but is not allowing the children of poor people of Delhi to study science. When the world is talking about science and

technology, today even 30 % of schools in Delhi do not teach science. It is the state of science under the rule of IITian CM that every year, the number of average children appearing in the exam with science is decreasing. If you look at the data for the last two years, only 7 percent of Delhi’s children are studying science. The government of Delhi does not want the children of the poor to become scientists, doctors, engineers? If yes, why such a situation?

 

There is also a bad situation for studying mathematics in Delhi. In the twelfth exam in 2019, the number of children sitting for Mathematics was only 15 percent. In Class X, two-thirds of the students who failed in one subject failed in Mathematics last year. In order to encourage children to read Mathematics in Class X, the Government is being forced to sit in the exam by taking basic Maths, which the students will not be able to study Mathematics further. In the Class X examination of 2020, 73 percent of the children of Delhi’s government schools will take the basic maths examination, while at the national level, only 30 percent of the children have chosen basic Maths.

 

Today, 45% of the posts in the education department in Delhi are vacant. Half the posts of teachers are lying vacant, including subjects like Science, Mathematics. There is a large population of Punjabis in Delhi but there are only 233 teachers teaching Punjabi language. One-third of the population in Delhi is Punjabis, but looking at the figures of 2019, the number of children studying in Punjabi and taking the exam is 0.37% of the total students appearing in the 12th exam and only 2.21% in the 10th. Computer science is also in bad shape. Less than 700 teachers are teaching in 1030 schools, the same number of students who take the exam after taking computer science is not even 1% of the total number of students.

 

There are many such questions, which show that the education revolution of Delhi is visible, in reality nothing happened. Only the spectacle became the beautiful balloon of the education revolution, confusing people. This balloon has exploded at the time of election. People are asking for accounts of work done in education. 

 

Debunking AAP’s Claims

Only 1 school in 5 years

(from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2019)

License to 133 liquor shops

during 2015-19

 

If we look at the report of the Economic Survey of Delhi in 2019, in the last 4 years, the number of enrollment of girls in government schools has decreased by 33,000, while the number of girls enrolled in private schools has increased by about 1.25 lakh In 2013, the children of Delhi’s Government schools not only beat the private schools, but also set a record of better results. In that year 99.46% children passed Class X. Since the AAP government was formed in 2015, the results have been deteriorating every year. From 98% in 2015 to 92% in 2017, and then again to 68% in 2018 The most unfortunate part was that 91% of the children who failed in the X and XII boards were not give admission again. Out of 1,55,436 children, 1,02,854 children were thrown out of schools by not being given admission 45% of the posts in the education department in Delhi are vacant. Half the posts of teachers are lying vacant, including subjects like Science, Mathematics