Guwahati: Delhi is merely of the size of a small district of Assam. Comparing education systems of a UT like Delhi and a state with diverse geography like Assam is a foolish statement. But it has become a habit of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to comment on every matter without proper understanding of it.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday hit back at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal over his comments on the issue of amalgamation of 34 schools in the state for zero success in Class X exams this year. Dr. Sarma told the media that Assam has almost 60000 government primary and secondary schools compared to 1200 odd schools in Delhi. So comparison of these two will be wrong. Delhi is a union territory and it’s more like a Municipality corporation. So the administration and politics of Delhi can’t be compared with a big state like Assam. Administration of 1200 schools is not a big job where you have only 6-7 thousand teachers. We have 2 lakhs 50 teachers in government schools in Assam. So Assam could be compared with states like Punjub and Jharkhand only. I am ready to visit Delhi schools if Arvind Kejriwal invites me, he said.
Kejriwal had tweeted on Wednesday that closing schools was not a solution as many new schools needed to be opened across the country. Instead of shutting down schools, Kejriwal advised the Assam government to focus on improving education in those institutions.
Reacting sharply on comments passed by Delhi CM, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted “Dear Arvind Kejriwalji, as usual you commented on something without (doing) any homework. Since my days as education minister, till now, please note, the Assam government has established/taken over 8610 new schools. How many new schools Delhi government has started in the last 7 years?” Sarma tweeted on Thursday.
But as usewell Delhi CM didn’t answer the question asked by Dr. Sarma. How many new schools were started by the Kejriwal government in the last 7 years is not answered by the publicity crazy Delhi CM.
Himanta Biswa Sarma further added, “Since 2013, 6802 private elementary schools, and 1589 private secondary schools have been provincialized (or brought under government fold) by the Assam government. 81 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, 3 Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Avashik Vidyalayas, 38 Adarsh Vidyalayas and 97 Tea Garden Model Schools have been newly established in past years. Curious to know Delhi’s figures,” he tweeted.
Assam information and Public Relation minister Pijush Hazarika informs that schools are not being closed down and they are being amalgamated (with other government schools located nearby) in order to improve “the overall educational environment”.
Hazarika tweeted “Arvind Kejriwalji has no right to speak on educational upliftment as his fake ‘Delhi Model Schools’ have been busted from time to time, AAP education model has demolished Delhi’s education system bring down Class X pass percentage from 99.09% in 2011 to 81.27% in 2022.”
He further tweeted “The great model schools of Delhi stand poorly in all aspects as compared to Puducherry. Kejriwal ji should visit Assam rather to learn,”
Assam education minister Dr. Ranuj Pegu informed that the 34 schools which are underperforming in SEBA 10th result will be merged with other government schools located nearby and teachers and students will be accommodated in them. Assam has around 5500 government secondary schools and 48500 primary schools compared to merely 1200 government run schools in the national capital Delhi.
