Manish Sisodia promises to change education landscape in Himachal

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 17

Manish Sisodia, AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, today accused the BJP government of demolishing the educational system in the state in the past over four years. He promised to change the educational landscape in Himachal like AAP had done in Delhi.

Sisodia, in a discussion on education with teachers and parents of schoolchildren here, criticised the government over the closure of several schools, lack of basic facilities such as drinking water and toilets in several schools, and the shortage of teaching staff.

“In 2015, there were 10 lakh students in government schools, but now there are eight lakh students. Over 8,000 schools have just one or two teachers, and 47 per cent of the colleges are without principals,” he said.

He compared Himachal’s educational scenario with Delhi’s where the AAP government claims to have transformed government schools.

He said that the Delhi Government had spent 25 per cent of the Budget annually on education for the past seven years. “Has any BJP or Congress government spent so much on education in the past 70 years,” he added.

Sisodia said that besides infrastructure, they had worked on providing training and facilities to teachers in Delhi.

“Teachers have been sent to reputed educational institutions for training in other countries, while school principals have been provided training at IIMs. Our efforts are showing results now – government school students are clearing exams like NEET and JEE in big numbers,” he claimed.

He countered the argument that Delhi could afford to spend a lot of money on education because it is a revenue-surplus state and said other states did not have money for education because of rampant corruption in government.

“Himachal has many industries like in Baddi, yet it doesn’t have money for education. Where’s the money going? How come a minister afford to host 10 receptions in five star facilities from Delhi to Shimla for his son’s wedding. It’s this money that should have gone into education,” he alleged.

He said that AAP was asking the people of Himachal for just five years to bring about this change. “If we fail to deliver, we will not ask for another opportunity,” he added

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