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Delhi elections: Education at centre stage of political discourse
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
Ever since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won a landslide in the 2015 Delhi assembly elections, it has faced flak from its principal political rivals for allegedly engaging in politics over education. Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia boldly countered the claims when he presented the Delhi budget on February 26 last year. “Yes, we are doing politics over education,” he said. It’s our responsibility to bring education into politics and we are doing that.”
A year down the line, education is again at the centre stage of the political discourse in Delhi ahead of the February 8 assembly elections in which Arvind Kejriwal’s government is fighting for re-election with the work it has done in improving the capital’s education infrastructure as one of its chief poll planks .
To be sure, it has an enviable track record to brag about, from building over 8,000 new classrooms, starting lessons in happiness and entrepreneurship at government schools, bearing the cost of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) registration for Class 10 and 12 students this year, offering free coaching for marginalised students, and launching programmes such as Chunauti and Buniyaad to improve learning outcomes, and even sending teachers to foreign universities such as Cambridge and Oxford for training.
On the campaign trail, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal repeatedly said it was the first time in the history of India that a political party was seeking votes on the basis of the work it has done in the education sector. Last week, he expressed happiness that other political parties too were finally talking about education in the election campaign, mentioning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Union home minister Amit Shah..
“This is how politics should be. But, producing fraud reports and calling it an expose is making a mockery of the hard work put in by the students, teachers and parents of government schools,” he said, referring to an “expose” carried out by BJP MPs in Delhi government schools that focused on their deficiencies.
Political bickering
Both the BJP and the Congress have attacked AAP for making “false claims,” highlighting issues like a decline in Class 10 results in Delhi government schools after the CBSE reintroduced board exams in 2017 and not keeping a 2015 promise to establish new colleges in the capital
Last week, BJP’s Delhi MPs visited multiple government schools and released a video highlighting the “shortcoming” in those schools, alleging they lacked “basic amenities.” The AAP countered the allegations by terming the videos“hoax stings”.
Congress leaders too alleged that the AAP has been publicising the work it has done around education while in reality, 46% of the budget for education remained unutilised. “They have not built a single new school. All these schools were built by us,” Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra said. The AAP said it had built 25 new school buildings across the city.
Experts said education had never figured as prominently in an election campaign as it has done in the run-up to the February 8 elections, adding that AAP’s rivals had to come up with “additional and better promises” than what AAP has already delivered in the sector.
“I don’t remember any state or national election where education was discussed like this time,” said Sanjay Kumar, director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). “The basic reason is that AAP wants to demonstrate its work in education to the voters. That’s why they want elections to be contested on developmental issues with education as one of the major sectors. The opposition, particularly the BJP, has been constantly trying to puncture AAP’s claims.”
In their manifestos, both Congress and the BJP have emphasised education. Both parties have promised to build new colleges, increase the budgetary allocation for education, and take care of the welfare of the teaching community. On Tuesday, AAP released its manifesto and made two promises: conducting spoken English classes to increase the chances of employability for government school alumni and to introduce a “Deshbhakti” (patriotism) curriculum in schools.
Track record
In 2015, when AAP had announced its first budget, it set aside Rs 4,570 crore to the education sector, more than double that the previous budgetary allocation. The amount increased three-fold in the last five years with Rs 15,601 crore earmarked for education in 2019, according to government data.
Apart from constructing 25 new school buildings and five schools of excellence (English medium government schools), the Delhi government also revamped libraries, built swimming pools, installed gyms, and set up closed circuit television cameras in classes to ensure the safety and security of students in its schools.
It also started parent-teacher meetings (PTMs) in the city’s government schools and formed School Management Committees to ensure greater involvement of parents in government schools. “We hadn’t heard of PTMs before and felt nervous going for the first time. It has become a ritual now,” said Sheela Singh, a resident of Trilokpuri who works as a domestic help.
Parents also said AAP had changed the perception around government schools. Sunita Chaudhary, a resident of Lakshmi Nagar in East Delhi, said that she used to feel diffident about telling people that her children studied in government schools.
“Now, everyone is talking about how good Delhi government schools are. My daughter and son both are learning well. Teachers also pay attention,” she said. Asked if education would affect her voting choice on February 8, she said: “Education is our only hope.”
In upscale neighbourhoods such as Greater Kailash, Khan Market, Hauz Khas and Jangpura too, residents applauded AAP for its work in education. Lakshita Dhiman, a resident of Jangpura, said, “Although my children go to a private school, I appreciate what the Delhi government has done in its schools. It’s good that the poor in the city are benefitted by these schools.”
Parents whose children are studying in private schools also hailed the AAP government for curbing fee hikes in these schools — a 2015 poll promise.
The misses
Many want the next government to pay equal attention to higher education. Sanjay Kumar, 20, a resident of Najafgarh, spoke about the AAP’s failure to establish 20 new degree colleges, as it had promised in 2015. “New colleges are specially required in the outer areas. I have to travel for two-three hours every day to reach college, which is in Nehru Nagar. Many of my friends opt for distance education to avoid travelling time,” he said.
Another point of criticism has been the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) project under which government school students who have failed to clear their Class 9 exams twice and Class 10 exams once were counselled into appearing for their board exams through the distance education mode. Many educationists and parents said this would push more students out of mainstream education.
Shankar Kumar, who works at a garment factory in Gandhi Nagar, said his son could not get back to a regular school after shifting to distance education in 2018. “It’s unfair for a child of his age if he does not go to a regular school. We cannot afford private schools and that’s why we had to continue with the distance mode,” he said.
