New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday challenged the state governments led by BJP and Congress to compete with his state’s education “revolution”.

He also challenged the BJP-ruled MCDs for a comparison with the schools of the Delhi government.

“Compete with the work done in education sector by our government. Let’s start today and then compare after a year or two. This competition will ultimately benefit the students of the country providing them with good schools,” Sisodia, who also holds the Education portfolio, told media here.

His remarks come in the wake of criticism that his government received from the opposition on its performance in the field of education among others.

State BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on November 24 said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal failed to deliver on his poll promises that he would improve education, while Congress’ Delhi unit President Ajay Maken also slammed the Delhi government, saying the number of students and its results have gone drastically down in last three years.

Sisodia hit back on Wednesday claiming that government schools are being shut down and private schools are increasing in states led by BJP and Congress.

“I appreciate that the important matter of education is being discussed by the politicians who keep discussing issues of ‘shamshan’ and ‘kabristaan’,” he said.

He further said that both BJP and Congress “did nothing in the education sector” and rather played in the hands of the private school lobby.

Referring to the data of the Education Department, he said that the transition loss from Class 10 to Class 12 came down in the two years of AAP’s rule in Delhi.

“While the transition loss in 2013-14 was 6,2,158, it has come down 2016-17 to 1,8,405.”

He also pointed towards the increase in expenditure on school infrastructure, which, he said, has gone up to Rs 1,229 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 210 crore in 2012-13.

“We changed the way education sector worked in Delhi. The schools which were dilapidated and were not maintained, get whitewashed every year now, and drinking water and sanitation has been taken care of.

“Four-five years back when we started talking on wide-spread corruption, the political discourse shifted from caste, religion to issues like corruption. I am sure education will become a topic in national politics in the coming years,” he added.

–IANS
mg/him/vd