N K Sharma nails CM's lie that the erstwhile SAD govt did nothing for school education, asks him to tell one thing AAP has done to better school education.

N K Sharma nails CM's lie that the erstwhile SAD govt did nothing for school education, asks him to tell one thing AAP has done to better school education.

(Says the education sector had fallen to its worst nadir under AAP rule)

Chandigarh 25 February ( Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal ) : Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and party Trade Wing president N K Sharma today asked chief minister Bhagwant Mann to tell one thing his government had done for school education in Punjab except repainting schools and changing their nomenclature, even as he asserted the education sector had dropped to its lowest nadir under the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rule. Condemning the chief minister for telling lies while stating that the erstwhile SAD government had neglected school education, Mr Sharma said the opposite was true.

Listing statistics to nail the lie, Sharma said during SAD tenure there were 27 students for each teacher which had now slipped to 47 for each teacher. “No new schools have been created during AAP rule even as the State has witnessed a record dropout rate of 80,000 students”. He said as many as 2,431 schools were functioning with only one teacher and twenty per cent of schools in the State had less than thirty students. The Trade Wing president said this was not all. “As many as 120 schools have been closed down during the tenure of the AAP government even as 44 per cent of senior secondary schools are functioning without Principles”. He said as many as 50 per cent schools at the block level also did not have any Principal. Asserting that it appeared that a deep rooted conspiracy was afoot to make the children in Punjab illiterates, Sharma said “what else can explain the fact that nothing has been done to ensure adequate staffing in schools or augment their infrastructure”.

The SAD leader said in stark contrast, during SAD tenure in government Punjab’s position in school education nationally had risen to the third rank from the 14th rank during the period of the earlier Congress regime. “This was because of a number of steps including recruiting 80,000 teachers, establishing meritorious schools, creating 4,467 new schools and reducing the dropout rates”. He said school children also benefited from the armed forces preparatory centers including the Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Mai Bhago centres for boys and girls respectively which were responsible for ensuring selection of a steady stream of students as officers in the armed forces. “Students were also benefited by the creation of the SC scholarship scheme while 4.82 lakh cycles were given to girl students”. Asking the chief minister to refresh his memory, Sharma said the erstwhile SAD government had also created 13 new Universities, an IIT and IIM besides the Nanotechnology institute and the NABI. “The SAD government also established 297 Skill Centers”, he added.