LG defaming Delhi teachers with ‘fake facts’, Sisodia says in letter

In a letter to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, the LG flagged issues related to the education sector, which has been a key focus area for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He said there has been a drop in attendance and enrolments in government schools, an increase in students going to private schools, among other claims.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday in a letter accused lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena of defaming Delhi’s teachers and relying on “fake facts”, a day after the latter flagged purported issues in the Capital’s education sector.

Delhi Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. (PTI)

“The LG wrote the letter with a political motive and said no work has been done in the education department of Delhi. His allegations are an insult to the students and teachers of Delhi. I am requesting the L-G not to mock the work of our teachers, who have done wonders in the department,” Sisodia wrote on Saturday, as the discord between the state’s elected government and Saxena escalated.

Spokespersons from the LG’s office did not respond to requests seeking comment on Sisodia’s letter.

In a letter to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, the LG flagged issues related to the education sector, which has been a key focus area for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He said there has been a drop in attendance and enrolments in government schools, an increase in students going to private schools, among other claims.

Retweeting Sisodia’s letter, Kejriwal on Saturday said, “Delhi’s teachers, students and their parents have together worked hard in the last seven years to reform the education system. Instead of insulting them, the LG should encourage them.”

Accusing Saxena of using “fake facts to defame” Delhi’s education system, Sisodia in his letter on Sunday hailed the progress of students in the Capital’s state government-run schools.

“While you have written that enrolment numbers have gone down from 16 lakh [1.6 million] to 15 lakh [1.5 million], in reality the numbers have gone up from 14.66 lakh [1.46 million] in 2015-16 to 18 lakh [1.8 million],” wrote Sisodia, adding that the pass rate was 75-80% earlier, which has increased to 99.6%, with “several students scoring 95-100%”.

He also pointed out that the then United States First Lady Melania Trump, in 2020, visited Delhi government schools and attended a “Happiness Class”, one of the state’s key education initiatives.

“Teacher posts are vacant in government schools in Delhi because of your failure. Why should the children of Delhi bear the brunt of your failure? Guest teachers are integral to Delhi’s government schools, you cannot humiliate them by calling them ghost teachers,” Sisodia added.

On Saxena’s allegation that 13 spots earmarked by the Delhi Development Authority for state government school buildings were not being used, Sisodia said four land parcels were “not handed over” and that two others were being “controlled by the land mafia”.

“If the Centre and LG had not obstructed our work, our schools would have been on a different level,” added Sisodia.

Sisodia writes that there are still many shortcomings which the government is seeing and will rectify. “We will fix whatever we lack,” he said.

“For the sake of the future of the children of Delhi, I would like to request you to cooperate in the work of the Delhi government instead of obstructing it,” Sisodia wrote.