Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit out at the Centre over the “poor” state of Government schools across the country.” Hailing the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) efforts, Kejriwal said that the Central Government should use Delhi's expertise to make India's school education and healthcare facilities "number one in the world".
“There are no proper classrooms, blackboards, roof or even desks. As many as 17 crore children go to Government school and we don’t know what will be their future. I want to give an offer to the Central Government, come and use our services and make schools and hospitals better… Don’t call them freebies.
If we have to go hungry to provide education to these kids, we will,” Kejriwal said at a Press conference on Tuesday. He also appealed to the BJP-led Union Government to not term free education and healthcare facilities "freebies". He went ahead to share a four-point vision that could make India a rich superpower very soon: 1-Transform all Government schools of the country into world-class schools; 2-Expand the number of Government schools, every corner of India should have a Government school; 3-Give permanent jobs to all contractual teachers and hire more educators; 4-Teachers will have to undergo excellent training and if needed, go abroad for training, like we have done in Delhi.
“If we make Government schools better, start giving good education to all the children like Delhi and these children start becoming good businessmen, doctors, engineers, lawyers, then every child will make their family rich,” he said.
The Chief Minister reiterated that giving good education is not a freebie, 130 crore people of the country are ready to sacrifice a meal everyday but not compromise with the education of their children. He said the poor can only afford to send their children to Government schools and it is important that their condition is improved. "If a child from a humble background gets good education in a Government school, he will become a doctor, engineer, or businessman and improve his family's financial condition. This will help his family come out of poverty and will also make the nation richer," he said.
“To provide good healthcare for free to every person, Government hospitals will have to be developed on a large scale all over India, if it can happen in Delhi, it can happen in the whole country too. Delhi Government spends an average of Rs 2,000 per capita annually on free healthcare; to scale it up for 130 crore Indians we need barely Rs2.5 lakh crore,” he said.
“They think that a Rs 5 lakh insurance cover is good healthcare; what is the point of such a scheme when someone is sick but not hospitalized.
The scheme won't pay for the medication, would it? What will someone do with a Rs 5 lakh insurance when there's no hospital in their town? This country needs hospitals not insurance cards”, said Kejriwal.