Education reforms were among the many promises made by Arvind Kejriwal. According to a report by The Times of India, sixty-six percent of the students, studying in class IX to XII in Delhi Government Schools, failed in 2017-18 session have dropped out of formal education. The Report further stated that, out of a total of 1,55,436 students who were not able pass the exam, only 52,582 were readmitted.
Another fact is that out of the 42,503 students enrolled in class X and failed to secure the minimum marks, only 3812 were readmitted, which signifies that only 91 percent of the students were discarded by the schooling system. Further, out of the 10,566 students who failed in class XII, only 943 were readmitted which also suggest that almost 91% of the students went out of the formal education.
Similarly, the dropping out rate of failed students from classes IX and XI is precariously high. Out of a total of the 73,561 students who failed in class IX, 35,534 were readmitted in Class XI, out of the 28,806 who failed, 12,293 were readmitted. The dropout rate for class IX and XI is 48% and 42% respectively.
These figures present the harsh reality of the schooling system in Delhi and raise questions about the education policy enrolled by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Various reports suggest that many government schools denied the readmission of students. Raising a voice against the monopoly of government schools, Justice for All, a Non Government Organization (NGO), last year, filed a petition when a student of class X was denied readmission in the school. Later in August 2018, the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi government to readmit these students.
“Despite the high court order, a large number of students failed to get admission and now they are out of the school system. It is a very easy process; the school just has to put the names of these students in the register. But the government has complicated the system. This is because they want to push these students out of the school so that they can show better results,” stated lawyer Ashok Agarwal of Justice for All. According to the Delhi school education rule, the re-admission of failed student cannot be denied if the student reaches out to the school administration.
While the Kejriwal government stayed in denial mode, Sanjay Goel, director at the Directorate of Education, claimed that no admission was denied. “For class IX, those who fail and want to save a year, we give them an option to go to the National Institute of Open Schooling or continue in class IX at the school. Those who fail more than twice have to obligatorily join the NIOS system. But for other classes, whichever child comes back, he/she is readmitted in the same class” added Goel. However the figures present a contrary story.
Arvind Kejriwal has patted his own back time and again claiming that education and healthcare is the main focus of the AAP government but these figures busted all his claims.