What was obvious from day one, is now out in the open. Allegedly, the knowledge-sharing agreement between the Punjab and Delhi governments seems to be the brainchild of Delhi CM and AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal. Following that trend, the Punjab government will be replicating the PR popularised Delhi education model in their state.
CM Mann’s announcement
The Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann wants to strengthen the education system in the state. For this, he held a meeting with principals of government schools and sought suggestions from them. In the meeting, he also launched an online portal for teachers to submit ‘out-of-the-box’ ideas to reform the education system. He emphasised the need to boost the confidence of students and went on to say that people have lost faith in the current education system.
Read More: Kejriwal doesn’t even care to hide the fact that he is running Punjab from Delhi
He boosted Delhi’s education model and announced that the state will implement it. He also declared that the teachers of the government schools will be sent to training in Delhi and reputed foreign institutions. He said, “To take our education to the next level, our teachers will be sent on educational tours to Delhi schools and even abroad for education training in batches to countries like Singapore, Switzerland, Finland and institutes like Harvard and Oxford on government expenses.”
Punjab Teachers to be trained in no less an institution as ‘Hayward’…
Cool🥴🍻pic.twitter.com/4TD7JKnF7x— Adnan Sami (@AdnanSamiLive) May 10, 2022
Is it really what it is claimed to be?
The talking points in the meeting look great and reformative, right? but what lies behind it will not make headlines. Money was used extravagantly for organising this meeting. It was held in a lavish private resort, Kingsville and around 57 AC buses ferried the principals of the government schools. The officials from Ludhiana district administration had booked Kingsville resort as according to them, it was the ‘cheapest’ among other options.
Read More: AAP MLAs in Delhi get a 66 per cent salary hike, but Punjab’s job aspirants get lathis in return
Change on ground does not happen by mere talks but rather through teaching staff. And on-ground action by the state government points in a totally opposite direction and exposes the shallowness in the announcements made by the Punjab CM. Evidently, a few days back, the Punjab government had deployed 1,750 school teachers on non-teaching jobs. But it seems the plan of the Punjab government might have changed after the dictation of Delhi CM through the knowledge sharing agreement. Hence, the Punjab CM did this extravagant meeting and hefty advertisement in a grand manner to trumpet his future success by replicating the PR model of Delhi.
Delhi Education Model
Now let’s talk about the elephant in the room, that is, the Delhi education model. The Delhi education model which claimed to be a revolutionary change in the education system is nothing but a sham. Education in private schools, which was already very costly, was further raised forcing students to move to the dilapidated Delhi government schools.
Read More: Delhi’s education model: Private schools too expensive, government schools too shabby
The option to enroll kids in Delhi government schools doesn’t seem to be promising at all as nearly 80% of schools have no headmasters to look after the day-to-day administration of the schools. Furthermore, the non-payment of salaries to teaching staff has badly affected the education in government schools. If the Delhi government had used the taxpayers’ money judiciously, not on self-glorification through hefty advertisements, at least the salaries of the teachers could be cleared.
The Delhi CM will be glorified in Punjab and his trumpet will be sounded repeatedly, it has to be seen if the Delhi CM accepts that it is he who is running the show in Punjab and not the de jure head, Bhagwant Mann through this Knowledge Sharing Agreement. That is why, the announcement made by the Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann seems to be bad news for the state as they have decided to follow a shallow model which is nothing but sweet talks and no substance.