AAP failed to deliver on education promises made during Assembly polls: Yogendra Yadav

Swaraj India, the political party floated by former AAP members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, on Saturday attacked the Delhi government over its claims of improving the city’s education system. The party alleged that the government was making false claims about work done in the education sector.

As part of its ‘Jawaab Do, Hisaab Do’ campaign — a precursor to the party’s campaign for the upcoming municipal polls — Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav raised questions on the poll promises made in AAP’s education manifesto during the Delhi Assembly elections. He said that the government’s claim of doubling the education budget was a “myth” as the number of schools and colleges in the national capital had declined.

“Only four new schools have been constructed in the entire year. This is much lower than what the Sheila Dikshit government built in a year in the last four years of its rule. The AAP had promised to build 500 new schools in its election manifesto. In 2014-15, there were 1,007 schools run by the Delhi government. By the end of 2015-16, only four new schools had been added,” Yadav said.

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He also said that the government gave only three loans of Rs 3.15 lakh under its higher education and skill guarantee scheme, while incurring an expenditure of over Rs 30 lakh to advertise the scheme.

The Swaraj India party further said that enrolment in Delhi government schools fell by 28,000 and of the 42,827 seats in private schools under the economically weaker section (EWS) quota, as many as 24,372 were lying unoccupied.

Talking about colleges, Yadav said: “Kejriwal had promised 20 new colleges. But by the end of 2015-16, Delhi actually had one college less than what it did the year before for general education. There are 84 colleges in Delhi now, compared to 85 in 2014-15.”

The Delhi government termed Swaraj India’s claim as misinformation.“Misinformation being spread on government’s higher education loan scheme. More than 100 students have been sanctioned loan this year,” said Atishi Marlena, advisor to education minister Manish Sisodia.