Check facts on learning levels in Delhi schools before politicising issue, Punjab Minister tells Delhi Dy CM

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], June 13 (ANI): Punjab Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla said on Sunday that he advised Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to first check facts regarding the status of the "Learning Level and Quality" parameter in the "Performance Grading Index" released by the Union government before stooping so low as to politicise the issue.

Yesterday, Sisodia said: "Punjab's government schools are in a miserable state. To hide CM Amarinder Singh's failure, PM Modi issued a report saying Punjab schools are outstanding. This shows 'jugalbandi' between two leaders. Captain Sahab has shut 800 government schools in the last 2-3 years."

" Delhi Education Minister Sisodia and his political party have become so scared with the achievement of Punjab in the field of school education that he has started misleading people with totally false and illogical statements", said the Punjab Education Minister while adding that Manish Sisodia had been saying that Punjab had performed badly in "Learning Level and Quality" in the recent " Performance Grading Index".

"But, the fact is that if Punjab's performance is poor then the performance of Delhi schools under the same parameter is even poorer as while Delhi has scored 124 marks, the score of Punjab is 126 in the National Achievement Survey conducted in 2017", said Singla while adding that even if Sisodia had been politicising the issue then he should have verified facts that when National Achievement Survey was conducted in 2017, AAP government in Delhi had already completed more than two years in power and Congress government in Punjab was just a few months old at that time.

"Besides, as the National Achievement Survey could not be conducted in November 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic, Punjab had to be satisfied with the old performance", he said.

Yesterday, Punjab CM, Captain Amarinder Singh responded to Sisodia and said, "If you (Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia) are really interested in improving the education system of Delhi, maybe you should do a 'jugalbandi' with me, and I will teach you how to manage things better."

Punjab Health Minister BS Sidhu also said, "Strength of state's government schools has increased. We are improving infrastructure. We have started pre-primary classes. English is already being taught there. It has been suggested to teach 3-4 other languages too so that children find it easier to get jobs abroad." (ANI)