Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, the leader of the opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly, criticised the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi for claiming to have the finest education model in the country. Bidhuri added that the assertion is 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.
On Twitter, he posted a video of himself speaking in the assembly. He wrote, “Kejriwal government’s model of education has completely failed. Leader of Opposition Ramveer Singh Bidhuri exposed the education model in the budget session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly!”
केजरीवाल सरकार का शिक्षा का मॉडल पूरी तरह फेल। दिल्ली विधानसभा के बजट अधिवेशन में नेता प्रतिपक्ष रामवीर सिंह बिधूड़ी ने खोली शिक्षा मॉडल की पोल!@narendramodi @JPNadda @AmitShah @blsanthosh @PandaJay @BJP4Delhi pic.twitter.com/0xYCyDC5bJ
— Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (@RamvirBidhuri) March 25, 2022
Bidhuri began by stating that Delhi schools have performed poorly in national performance rating. We dug further into Bidhuri’s claims and discovered that what he asserted was genuine. The AAP government’s chest-thumping on education reform in Delhi does not correspond with factual results.
As per the Performance Grading Index of 2019-2020, Delhi does not even stand in the top 5 of the list which includes all the states and the Union Territories. Delhi’s position is sixth on the whole list.
Delhi stands at 32nd position in terms of performance in the domain of learning outcome
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 poor.
Going more deep into this domain, it was found that the performance of 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 in the case of infrastructure, Delhi is not the best. Delhi stands second to Punjab in this category.
Also, in terms of Equity, Delhi is in 5th position in the list.
Secondly, Bidhuri stressed that the condition of Delhi University colleges funded by the Delhi Government is very poor. The government is unable to pay salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff in the colleges fully funded by the Delhi government.
Delhi Universities experiencing funding crisis even as AAP boasts about its superior education model
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. Mr Kumar called it ‘inhuman treatment,’ and said teachers will be obliged to demonstrate in order to fight the government’s arm-twisting. Teachers have been compelled to resign as a result of the issue, he claimed.
“Then they (govt) alleged corruption in colleges and despite various audits, they did not find anything. 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 addition, when it comes to vocational education, for which the Delhi Government has positioned itself as a forerunner, the situation is dire. Bidhuri stated that teachers and instructors in vocational institutes are struggling with their salaries with the government being careless about them.
According to some reports, 6 years have gone by, yet the salary of Delhi’s vocational instructors has not increased.
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.
