In what may emerge as another flashpoint between the Delhi Government and the Central Government, Delhi Assembly has passed a resolution seeking reversal of decision to allot land “meant for school purpose” at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg for construction of Delhi’s BJP office.
Also, the resolution sought a school to be built on that site in memory of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Interestingly, two other impromptu resolutions were also passed in the Session to honour the memory of Dr Kalam: one by installing his portrait in the Assembly Hall and the other by providing space inside Vidhan Sabha premises to temporarily keep Dr Kalam’s belongings (that will be brought back from his village) till a Knowledge Centre is established to preserve his memory. Even the Opposition leaders vocally supported the two resolutions.
Calling the move to order eviction of the house allotted to Dr Kalam as a political decision, Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra said while moving the motion, “All decisions about who will be remembered and who will be forgotten, whose sculpture will be installed on public places and whose not, and whose picture will be framed in the Assembly and whose not: they are all political decisions. We have set up a three-member committee to bring back Kalam’s belongings from Rameswaram where his family has no space to keep it.”
Meanwhile, calling ‘No Detention Policy’ in primary and middle school education a good but hurriedly implemented policy without any groundwork, Education Minister Manish Sisodia moved an amendment to Right to Education Bill to withdraw the ‘no detention’ system. The amendment will enable a school to detain a student if “a child has not achieved class appropriate learning level in a class”.
Introducing the Bill, Sisodia said, “We didn’t change the syllabus of the students; we didn’t change the pattern of education; we didn’t improve the infrastructure; and we did not provide any training to the teachers. But we implemented a policy because it has proved successful in other countries. I feel that it is a good idea, but it needs proper groundwork. And our Government is making preparations before implementing it properly.”