AAP vision for education in Delhi unveiled by Kejriwal

Former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal unveiled the Aam Aadmi Party’s vision for education in Delhi on Saturday.

Kejriwal delivered the keynote address at InspirED education conference organised by the Teach For India (TFI), at the St Stephen’s College in the morning.

Important components of the AAP’s vision and agenda for improvement of education in the national capital outlined by Kejriwal include :   

 

1)      500 new schools with special focus on building secondary and senior secondary schools to ensure that every Delhi child has easy access to a quality school. 

2)  Expand the scope of Right to Education from pre-primary to Class 12. Make education free till Class 12.

3)   Make headmasters the main pivot of schools. Give them financial and administrative powers and make them accountable.

4)   Fill 17,000 vacant teacher posts with best teachers to reach full staff strength. Contractual posts will be regularized.

5)  Build toilets and ensure high quality school infrastructure like light, fans, computers and buildings in each school. This will curb the biggest reason of dropout, especially for girls.

6)  Improve the standard of education in government schools to that of the best private school and Kendriya Vidyalayas.

7)  We will open and facilitate the opening of 20 new Delhi colleges and vocational training institutes, on the outskirts of Delhi by creating partnerships with our local villages.

8)  AAP will promote vocational education and skill-development of Delhi’s youth in schools and colleges, to bridge the real skill-gap in Delhi. We will create the Delhi Skill Mission that will enable the skilling of 1 lakh/year for the first 2 years, ramped up to 5 lakhs/year for the next 3 years of an AAP government.

9) The government will encourage talent and start ups by setting up technological incubators in universities and colleges. Facilitate innovative and private startup accelarators to provide support to entrepreneurs. We will target to provide 3 million square feet of affordable Incubation space to begin with, and scale if the idea takes shape. Children will become job givers, not job seekers. We will give them incubation center spaces.

10) 100% functioning School Management Committees should be formed. Currently, 70% SMCs have been formed but only in name. Parents should be made a principal signatory or vice-chairperson and elections aren’t being held. Parents, teachers, Class IV employees and administrators to be given administrative and functional powers. 50% of the members have to be women. SMC should be involved in the making of the School Development Plan.

 

 

·         Education cannot be a matter of charity, it has to be a matter of right.

·         Teachers have been reduced to clerks. They do everything but educate. We need to invest in teachers. We need to stop their exploitation. We need to give them higher salary.

·         A primary school teacher on contract is given Rs 13,500 p.m. We have made clerks out of our teachers.

·         Out of 5 lakh students taking admission in schools in Delhi only 2.5lakh pass 12th. Why?

·         Why is education not as big a priority as business or stockmarket ? If Bombay Stock exchange falls by 400 pts, its all over on media and politicians but why not so about education?

·         Education has to be a priority for all elected governments.

·         There are vested interest in education. Rs 48,500 crore of black money is given as donation each year.

·         Many private schools are owned by politicians, it is in their interest to ruin Govt school’s education.

·         When people feel so strongly about education, value it. Why do political parties not even talk about it ? Education is not seen as development & governance, as an investment into human capital, so ignored by political parties.

·         Our dream is to make government schools in Delhi better than private schools in next 5 years.

·         The inspector raj in education should finish. Parents should be the judges, not inspectors.