Chandigarh, November 26
The ‘Twitter war’ between the Delhi and Punjab education ministers over the deteriorating condition of Punjab’s government schools and the entire education system escalated on Friday. After Pargat Singh accepted the challenge posed by Delhi Education and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to compare Punjab and Delhi government schools, Manish Sisodia offered to send a list of 250 Delhi schools to Pargat Singh and sought a list of 250 government schools of Punjab from him. At the same time, Sisodia asked Pargat Singh to set a date and time of his choice for a tour of the best schools listed in Delhi and Punjab and a debate on education system and reforms; so that both the Education Ministers (Manish Sisodia and Pargat Singh) in the presence of the media; can visit Delhi and Punjab government schools together and have an open debate.
After Pargat Singh accepted Sisodia’s challenge, Manish Sisodia did three tweets. According to the first tweet, “Punjab’s Education Minister has accepted my challenge for debate on education reforms in 250 schools in Delhi and Punjab. I am waiting for the list of the best 250 schools in Punjab which have improved in the last 5 years.”
In another tweet, Sisodia wrote, “I will personally submit a list of 250 schools in Delhi. Then we will go to these schools together, at the decided time and date. At the same time we will call the media so that all the people can form their opinion by looking at the government schools of Delhi and Punjab and the education model of both.”
In the third tweet, Manish Sisodia wrote, “Not only that, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is coming to Mohali tomorrow (November 27). There, Kejriwal will meet Punjab teachers who are agitating for their demands and sitting on dharnas. Who better to tell about the improvements made in the schools than the teachers teaching there?”
Along with this, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and Leader of Opposition, Harpal Singh Cheema, termed the ongoing debate between the Education Ministers of Delhi and Punjab on government schools and education system as important and positive. Cheema said that education, especially the government school education sector which had been marginalized for the last several decades. With the formation of Arvind Kejriwal’s government in Delhi, government schools and health services have emerged as the focal point for power and the people, because the Kejriwal government in Delhi has shown revolutionary work on the education and health model; which is also having a tremendous impact on the people of Punjab.
Cheema said that it was to reduce the influence of the Kejriwal government that Pargat Singh had called Punjab government schools better than Delhi government schools. After which the debate started and Manish Sisodia challenged for an open debate. He said that no matter what, the comparison and debate between two different models (Punjab and Delhi) on the subject of education, especially government school education, would yield positive results. The conventional parties (Congress, Akali Dal Badal and BJP) that have left education and health in private hands will also take the issue of government school education seriously; because the Aam Aadmi Party and the Kejriwal government in Delhi have made the people of Delhi-Punjab as well as the entire country aware about education and health.
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