Sisodia says BJP shut govt schools to favour pvt ones, oppn calls allegation “baseless”

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of shutting government schools in states ruled by them to endorse private

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of shutting government schools in states ruled by them to endorse private schools, and letting the latter increase fees indiscriminately.

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The BJP dismissed Sisodia’s allegation and hit back saying the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi is trying to hide their “failure” using “baseless allegations”.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Sisodia also highlighted the AAP government’s efforts in putting a cap on fee hikes by private schools in Delhi over the last five years, and challenged the BJP to come up with example from any state ruled by them, if they have done so.

“In states ruled by them, the BJP have closed down government schools everywhere on the pretext of fewer enrolments, and helped private schools. Many such schools are owned by ministers and their relatives. The Delhi government, on the other hand, has efficiently worked towards putting a cap on fee hikes by private schools and succeeded,” said Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s education minister.

He further said, since 2016, the AAP government has stopped around 90% private schools from increasing their fees. For others, the hike was not allowed to exceed 5% per annum, compared to an average increase of 10%-15% in the years preceding 2015.

“In 2016-17, we made private schools refund excess fees in retrospective effect since 2009-10. So far, our policies made 158 private schools return fees worth around ₹32.10 crore to around 80,000 families, said Sisodia.

Delhi’s leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta responded to Sisodia’s allegations, saying, “The AAP government has failed to construct new schools or colleges in the city. They keep talking about adding 20,000 classrooms in existing schools — on which no audit has ever happened, nor have the numbers been verified. They are trying to conceal their failure with baseless allegations made in such press conferences every second day.”