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‘I feel very sad when…’: Kejriwal on Denmark's policy of granting students $900

Oct 25, 2022 11:15 AM IST

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted that countries like Denmark became prosperous because of their free education policy.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday shared an old report on Denmark's free education policy and said he feels “very sad” when politicians in India call it ‘revdi’, or freebies. Kejriwal asserted that countries like Denmark became prosperous because of their free education policy, adding that every child in India should be provided with free of cost education to make every Indian rich.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI)
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI)

“Watch this video... Education is free in rich countries. I feel very sad when these leaders call free education in our country 'revdi'. These countries became rich because they give free education. If every Indian has to be made rich, then every child of India has to be given good education free of cost,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

According to a 2017 report by World Economic Forum in collaboration with Business Insider, Denmark has a program that provides students a monthly grant of nearly $1,000 to cover living expenses if they do not live with their parents. While the report highlighted the enormous freedom from debt that the policy provides to the Danish students, it also flagged the concerns over what they call “eternity students”.

The report noted the rise in the number of students who stick around at college for six years or more without any plans of graduating, solely because they don't have any financial incentive to leave. However, a report by The Washington Post quoted a Danish student saying that most students understand what is at stake.

"The scheme's existence is crucial to enable an excellent education for everybody, no matter how much their parents make," said Danish student Astrid Winther Fischer, as quoted by The Post in its 2015 report.

The debate over freebies has intensified after Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the political culture of "revdi".

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