Amid tussle with the Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena over a training visit to Finland by government school teachers, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said he wants the city’s government schools the best in the world so that students from abroad should come here for education. He said that he will keep sending them abroad and they have the support of the people of Delhi and the country.
Kejriwal held an interaction with government school teachers who participated in the training programme in Finland, Cambridge and Singapore. Deput Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and MLA Atishi were also present.
During the event, while taking a tacit jibe at the Centre, the Chief Minister also said that “there is no better investment” than training of teachers after the LG sought a “cost-benefit analysis” of teachers training in Finland - a proposal which has led to a fresh standoff between the AAP government and him.
“Some people consider it extravagance, but it is investment. I feel that you can construct four bridges and four roads less in number, but we should provide best exposure and training to our teachers. They are to groom the students----- who would build roads and bridges in the future,” he said. Lamenting that some people are trying to defame them as they are in the habit of pulling down those who want to do good work.
“We have been able to send you (teachers) to foreign countries. I have been the Chief Minister for eight years. But I have gone abroad just twice - once I went to Rome when Mother Teresa died, and second to South Korea,” he stressed in his address.
“My motive is to send teachers to other countries. I don’t want to go. Other leaders visit foreign countries on monthly basis. We want you to gain global experience. Our government schools have to be better than international schools... not just the private schools,” Kejriwal said, adding that “the government aims to imbibe best practices”.
“Even our critics agree that the Delhi government schools have seen a lot more improvement over the years. That’s not because of us; it’s because of the teachers.”
“Earlier, they used to ask what is the whole point of sending government principals and teachers for training abroad. We broke that barrier by providing them with the best training in the world. Delhi government schools should not just compete with schools of few counties but the whole world,” CM Kejriwal asserted. “I am ready to give Manish Sisodia as a loan to other States’ parties if they want to improve their schools,” he further stated.
“If leaders would have always focused on education in policies, India would have seen a revolution long back.