AAP’s Delhi Model promise far from reality
Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, December 21
The year 2023 brought a blend of anticipation and disappointment in the Education Department under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s leadership. Despite the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s promise to implement education reforms akin to the ‘Delhi Model’, the reality at the ground level reveals a sorry state of affairs.
Hopes unfulfilled
Hopes of improved quality of education, particularly inspired by reforms in Delhi government schools, remain unfulfilled. In rural areas, government schools continue to grapple with inadequate infrastructure, staff shortage and the burden of non-teaching responsibilities placed on educators.
The Lows
- Staff crunch, ailing infrastructure
- PSEB Board results not up to the mark
- Despite strict norms, teachers assigned non-teaching duties
- Progress in much-publicised ‘Schools of Eminence’ yet to be seen
- Protests by computer teachers
The highs
- Regular PTMs held at government schools, though teachers said it was a routine affair for past many years
- City-based girl Khwahish, a student of government school, was selected for educational tour to Japan
- Projects like Mission Samarth, Mission 100% and others
- School principals sent to Singapore
- School games held
- Govt schools received school buses, security guards also hired
Hopes of improved quality of education, particularly inspired by reforms in Delhi government schools, remain unfulfilled. In rural areas, government schools continue to grapple with inadequate infrastructure, staff shortage and the burden of non-teaching responsibilities placed on educators.
The government’s touted initiatives, such as the Business Blaster Young Entrepreneur Scheme, Mission Samarth, Mission 100%, Mega PTMs were met with scepticism as critics argued that many of these projects were conceived and implemented by the previous government. They say that it appears that the current government is rebranding existing initiatives as its own ground-breaking efforts.
Additionally, the ambitious “Schools of Eminence” project, launched with much fanfare, aimed to change public perception by transforming schools with state-of-the-art infrastructure. However, the reality falls short, with only superficial changes like new signage and a lack of substantial improvements in facilities.
Even the academic achievements in government schools painted a dismal picture this year as compared to their private counterparts. In the Class XII PSEB results in Jalandhar, only two students from government schools made it to the state merit list out of 343 students. The performance in Class X results was equally disappointing, with the district ranking 18th in state. Kapurthala, Nawanshahr and Hoshiarpur attained better positions with a higher pass percentage as compared to Jalandhar.
Moreover, despite the acclaimed regulation of fee hike and specified book purchases from the previous year, the government failed to check these regulations in 2023, leaving parents concerned about uncontrolled practices in private schools.
While the government’s regularisation of 12,700 contractual teachers was a significant move, protests by computer teachers across Punjab a number of times this year, highlighted the ongoing challenges within the education sector.
The AAP government’s limited successes include sending school principals to the Academy of Principals in Singapore for professional development and the participation of eight female students, including one from Jalandhar, in the Japan Asia Youth Exchange Programme in Science.
Overall, Aam Aadmi Party’s claims of transformative changes in the
education sector clash starkly with the prevailing ground reality, leaving many stakeholders disillusioned and questioning the fulfillment of the promised reforms.
