No payment for teachers, no buses for schoolchildren – The real Kejriwal model of education

The prevailing education system of the current dispensation in Delhi is very poor. An American education reformer John Dewey had once said, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” If these words are something to go by, Mr. Kejriwal seemingly is playing with the lives of our young students.

No DTC buses for schools

As schools in Delhi have reopened for in-person classes for students, schools in Delhi are mostly dependent on DTC bus services. Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) had last year expressed that it cannot provide public buses for additional services and thus schools will have to look for alternative arrangements. Schools, however, are worried as they do not have parking spaces for private buses.

In the absence of DTC buses, parents are left with no option but to arrange private transportation services. They are forced to fall on expensive cab services. The remaining ones are dropping and picking up their children which has resulted in more private vehicles and traffic around the school.

Action Committee, an association of private schools, reported that “It wrote to the Delhi and central governments seeking relaxation of at least two years to run their buses. However, it is yet to receive any response, said its general secretary Bharat Arora.”

No salary for teachers

If you thought that the transportation system is the only hurdle in Delhi’s education, you are wrong. Kejriwal has so much to offer. Under his leadership, the students, as well as teachers, are crying foul. Yes, you heard it right. The teaching and non-teaching employees of Delhi University-affiliated 12 colleges have not been paid for several months. They have reportedly accused the Kejriwal-led government of the problems they have been facing.

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) on Monday wrote to the Chief Minister asking for regular salaries. Moreover, they have asked to fulfill infrastructure requirements to run the new academic programmes.

President of DUTA, A K Bhagi, said, “The grant cut to these colleges is also likely to pose problems for students in future for the want of required manpower of teaching, non-teaching staff and required infrastructure and facilities.”

On the direction of the Delhi government, many new courses were started in 2016-17 and seats were increased in these colleges but teaching and non-teaching positions remain the same. “Rather on implementation of EWS quota in 2019, 25 percent additional seats have also been created, still no funds have been increased to meet manpower as well as physical infrastructure,” said Bhagi.

Delhi’s education system is in complete disarray

Earlier as reported by TFI in 2019, there was a dearth of qualified teachers in Delhi government schools. This was evident when the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) told the honourable Delhi High Court that out of 21,135 guest teachers, 16,383 of them could not even achieve the minimum passing marks in the examination conducted to fill a large number of vacancies in the government schools.

Read more: Under the Kejriwal-led government, the education system in Delhi is in complete disarray

Delhi University also went through a shortage of funds in 2019 because the AAP government had stopped funding for 28 constituent colleges. The reason given behind the decision was that the university administration failed to constitute governing bodies in these colleges. However, the real motive behind it was political as the government had not released the fund in the last four-five years.

Read more: Delhi’s own educational board is not a bad idea, but it’s a terrible idea under Kejriwal

While presenting the 2020 annual budget for Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had announced that the government was setting aside Rs 62 crore to set up a separate state board of education. However, the AAP government’s claims of transforming the education system in Delhi are fundamentally based on PR and false claims, which have time and again been exposed.

Despite this, the AAP government claims to be revolutionising Delhi’s system of education. Let’s take a moment to ‘applaud’ Kejriwal for such a revolution. Delhi’s model of education has been completely demolished by Kejriwal and the Chief Minister should take the responsibility rather than blowing his own trumpet.