AAP accuses BJP of trying to sell Delhi civic schools to coaching centres; party calls claims ‘baseless’

While the AAP is in charge of the government in Delhi, the BJP rules the city’s three municipal corporations (MCD), which go to the polls next year

New Delhi:

According to AAP, the BJP has floated tenders to sell 14 MCD schools to private coaching centres (Picture for representational purposes only)

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to sell the premises of municipal schools in Delhi to private coaching centres, a claim that the party, which runs Delhi’s civic bodies, called “baseless”.

While the AAP is in charge of the government in Delhi, the BJP rules the city’s three municipal corporations (MCD), which go to the polls next year.

“The BJP has floated tenders to sell 14 MCD schools to private coaching centres. The BJP has made MCD a corruption, theft and deception factory. While the number of students studying in Delhi government schools is rising exponentially, the headcount in MCD schools has reduced from three lakh (300,000) to two lakh thirty thousand (230,000) in the last few years, thanks to dismal conditions sponsored by the BJP,” said Saurabh Bhardwaj, the AAP’s chief spokesperson, while addressing a press conference.

Bhardwaj said that the schools are located in Narela, Paharganj, Civil Lines and Karol Bagh, which come under the jurisdiction of the North Delhi municipal body.

He further said, “The Kejriwal government spends 25% of its budget on education, and the MCD spends only 1.5% on education. The BJP-ruled MCDs claim they don’t have enough land for Mohalla clinics, but sell school buildings to private players without thinking twice. There are only 30-40 children left in several MCD schools; they do not even have enough students to run those schools.”

Dismissing the allegations as “baseless”, Delhi-BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “The MCD is not leasing or selling any of its schools to private coaching centres and it seems in his fervour to defame municipal corporations, AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj does not verify facts before speaking. The North MCD has several school buildings lying empty as certain areas especially, in the city zone have gone commercial, with very little population left thus rendering schools useless... All over the country, municipal primary schools run on funds given by the Centre and state governments under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. So, the North MCD doesn’t have to use its funds on education.”