Condition of govt schools abysmal, students’ future in dark: Kejriwal

CHANDIGARH : Aam Aadmi party (AAP) national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday issued a video message, calling the state of government schools in Punjab “abysmal and distressing”.

Kejriwal alleged that the future of over 24 lakh underprivileged and scheduled caste (SC) students was in the dark because the Punjab government did not want them to excel. “The teachers of Punjab are very good but they have been harassed to such an extent that they have lost all hope in the system,” he claimed.

The Delhi CM said his government had completely revolutionised schools and changed the face of government education in the national capital. “Like Delhi, we will transform the education system and build world-class schools in Punjab,” he said in the message addressed to government school teachers and students from the poll-bound state.

AAP MLAs Aman Arora and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer also welcomed and accepted the debate challenge given by Punjab deputy CM and health minister OP Soni.

In a statement, the two accused Soni of “trying to mislead people” by claiming that Punjab is ahead of Delhi in every aspect on health front. “In a hurry to compare Punjab and Delhi healthcare systems, the minister forgot that Punjab actually needs a healthcare system according to nationally set norms and WHO standards,” they said.

The AAP MLAs said that according to national norms in rural Punjab, there should be 700 plus public health centres (PHCs), but there were only 416. Similarly, around 200 community health centres (CHCs) were required in rural areas according to the population, but the state had only 87, they added.

Arora said that 80% of the CHCs were without any specialist. He also challenged Soni to name one CHC in rural area that was providing the “perfect services” according to the national norms.