Those who want brilliant education system in Punjab should vote for AAP, says Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said those who want a brilliant education system in Punjab, just like in the national capital, should vote for the AAP in the 2022 state Assembly polls.

He made these remarks in response to tweets by Punjab Education Minister Pargat Singh, who had said there is a revolution going on in the field of education in the state and the people are happy with the government school system.

In the run-up to the Punjab polls, Kejriwal, who is the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has announced a slew of sops for different sections of the society.

"Punjab's education minister is saying that the schools in the state are the best in the country and the teachers are quite happy. Those who are happy with Punjab's schools and the current education system can vote for the Congress. Those who want a brilliant education system in Punjab, just like Delhi, should vote for us," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

Singh had put out a series of tweets targeting Kejriwal, saying his information about the state is "patchy".

"@ArvindKejriwal ji, there is already a revolution going on in education in Punjab. It is another matter that you missed it. It is understandable for a Delhiite whose interest in Punjab is aroused only around elections," he had wrote on Twitter, using the hash tag #EducationRevolutionInPunjab.

"Punjab topped the country in school education in National Performance Grade Index (NPGI) in the most recent survey. Delhi came 6th. Punjab was above Delhi on all 5 parameters -- learning outcomes, access, infrastructure & facilities, equity and governance in the survey," Singh had tweeted.

Stating that the pupil-to-teacher ratio in Punjab government schools is 24.5:1 compared to 35:1 in Delhi, the state education minister had claimed that 15 per cent of the government schools in the national capital have an adverse pupil-to-teacher ratio compared to less than four per cent in Punjab.

"Please fill up Delhi schools before worrying about Punjab. Since ur info abt the state is so patchy, i'll like to tell u dt we r already in the process of recruiting more than 20k teachers by Dec. end. This is in addition to 8886 who have been regularised already. 1117 staff members have been promoted n more r on the way (sic).

"Punjabis have full faith on our govt school system. In the last 4 years enrolment in Pre Primary classes have risen from 1.93 Lakhs to 3.3 Lakhs. @ArvindKejriwal ji, u need not worry about our transfer policy of teachers. It is one of the best, n most transparent transfer policies in India which is fully online. Teachers get stations of der choice sitting at home and is done once in a year (sic)," Singh had said.

Founded in 2012, the AAP had emerged as the main opposition in Punjab in the 2017 Assembly polls, but party leaders had admitted that they were expecting a better electoral outcome.

The Punjab Assembly polls are due early next year.