SAD takes dig at Punjab CM over Delhi visit

SAD said it was strange that it was only after reaching the national capital that Mann came to know that the “Delhi government was following the meritorious school model of Punjab”.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday took a dig at Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann over his visit to schools in the national capital to study the “Delhi Model” of education.

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and his Delhi counterpart and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal during their visit to Dr BR Ambedkar Schools of Specialised Excellence at Kalkaji in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI)

In a statement here, SAD spokesperson Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said that it was strange that it was only after reaching the national capital that Mann came to know that the “Delhi government was following the meritorious school model of Punjab, albeit with a few modifications”.

Cheema said the SAD had some time back advised Mann to visit the meritorious and Adarsh schools established by the erstwhile Akali government so that the neglect they had suffered during the past five years of Congress rule could be corrected.

“Instead of doing this and building on the platform created by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, which had taken Punjab to the number two slot in the national survey on school education, Mann decided to blindly follow other models,” he said.

Accompanied by Aam Aadmi Party national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Mann on Monday announced that Punjab would soon modernise the entire school education and health sector on the pattern of “Delhi Model” as promised by the party ahead of the state polls. The Punjab CM is on a two-day visit to Delhi. Apart from visiting health and educational institutions, he is expected to sign memorandum of understanding with the Delhi government.