New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta slammed the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s education model “riddled with corruption”, and vowed to soon improve the quality of government institutions in the city.
Sharing the platform with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at an event to honour teachers, CM Gupta said, “The previous government spent crores of rupees on its own publicity. In the end, the students did not gain from their education model as their focus was on their own publicity.”
Not a single new school building was built by the previous government, and many schools are still forced to operate from portacabins, said CM Gupta, highlighting the shortage of teachers and principals under the previous government.
Taking pride in herself being a product of a government school, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said such institutions nurture the nation’s future and its teachers play a key role in shaping the students.
“Be it your Chief Minister, your Prime Minister or your Union Education Minister, all are products of government schools,” said CM Gupta, addressing the ‘Teacher Maha Kumbh – State Teacher Honour Ceremony’ organised by the Delhi government on the occasion of Teachers’ Day at Thyagaraj Stadium.
CM Gupta said she aspires to raise the quality of government schools in the city to such a level that all parents would want to send their wards to them.
“Our resolve is that Delhi’s government schools should be better than any public school in the country. The 70,000 teachers teaching here should receive modern facilities, and over 18 lakh students should get quality, value-based, and future-ready education,” she said, promising smart classrooms, state-of-the-art labs, enriched libraries, and playgrounds.
“Just as the level of government colleges is considered better by students and parents, I wish government schools in Delhi also become sought-after,” she said.
Claiming that the pride of a teacher is linked to the pride of the nation, she said all this can be possible only when teachers sow the seed of national pride in the students.
Conceding that there is a lack of facilities for teachers in government schools, CM Gupta said, “I believe their task is more difficult than their counterparts in private schools.”
“You are contributing to nation building, so do not just treat your daily responsibility as a job,” she said.
Later, in a post on X, CM Gupta said, “Today, at the Teacher Maha Kumbh – State Teacher Honour Ceremony organised by the Delhi government on the occasion of Teachers’ Day at Thyagaraj Stadium, I interacted with teachers and children in the dignified presence of the Honourable Union Education Minister Shri @dpradhanbjpji.”
“The wonderful performances by the children in honour of the teachers captivated everyone’s hearts. Teachers are not limited merely to their careers or jobs but are continuously engaged in the great task of nation-building. The generation shaped by their hands becomes the pride of society and the nation, illuminating India’s name,” she said.
–IANS
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