After AAP’s push in schools, education features heavily in all manifestos

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Over the past five years, AAP has highlighted its work in constructing new classrooms, allotting 25% of the budget to education, introducing new curricula and training programmes for teachers, and disallowing private schools from increasing fees.

In its manifesto for this election, it has chosen not to reiterate any of its older or incomplete promises. Instead, it has introduced two new points — a “Deshbhakti Curriculum” which CM Arvind Kejriwal had announced in August 2018 as a means to instill a sense of “duty” and “responsibility” towards the country, and introducing spoken English and soft skills for students who have graduated from any Delhi school in the past five years to increase their employability.

The BJP’s campaign had been dominated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s public meetings, in which he had alleged that AAP has not fulfilled its education promises or built a single new school or college.

In its own manifesto, some of its promises have taken a leaf out of initiatives that AAP has already introduced. For instance, it has promised that “school curricula will introduce topics on entrepreneurship”. The AAP government had introduced a compulsory “Entrepreneurship Curriculum” for students of classes IX-XII in its schools.

It has also promised to simplify conditions for granting education loans to poor students for higher education. The Delhi government has a ‘Higher Education and Skill Development Guarantee Scheme’ for those taking an education loan of up to Rs 10 lakh to study in a higher education institute in Delhi.

The biggest promises the BJP has made in this field are to increase the education budget by 10% each year, and to open 200 new schools and 10 new colleges. It has also promised introduce a “Sanskrit board” and Sanskrit learning in the Sanskrit medium.

The Congress manifesto claimed that under AAP, lakhs of students shifted from government to private schools. It also alleged “more publicity by the AAP government than actual improvement in school”.

Its two principal education promises are “subsidised education for all students living in ‘Notified Slums and all Resettlement Colonies until Class XII’, in both public and private schools” and “free girl education in government schools and colleges, from Nursery to PhD”.

Meanwhile, the Congress has promised absorption of all guest teachers working in government schools and the BJP has promised them service till the age of 58.

The 58 years service policy had been drafted by the AAP government last year after a prolonged strike by guest teachers, and has been pending approval by the Lieutenant Governor.

One thing that has made it to both the BJP and Congress manifestos is a carrot to guest teachers working in government schools — criticised the AAP government and infrastructure and quality of education’s education work to promote Sanksrit — in case of default

In its manifesto for this election, it has chosen to not reiterate any of its older or incomplete promises. Instead, it has introduced two new points. First, introducing a “Deshbhakti Curriculum” which CM Arvind Kejriwal had announced in August 2018 as a means to instill a sense of “duty” and “responsibility” towards the country. Secondly, introducing spoken English and soft skills for students who have graduated from any Delhi school in the past five years to increase their employability.

Under this scheme, the Delhi government will provide a guarantee to the banks to facilitate loans.