Education turns a major battleground for BJP and AAP in Gujarat Assembly polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. (File photo)

Ahead of the Legislative Assembly elections, education has become a major poll plank in Gujarat with both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) tripping over themselves to make promises in the education sector.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has positioned itself as a major contender in the state, where elections have been traditionally seen as a direct contest between the BJP and Congress. The AAP has made revamping of education model its agenda, promising better schools and regularisation of teachers.
AAP has been attacking the ruling BJP over the "poor quality" of education and infrastructure in government-run schools. However, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched ‘Mission Schools of Excellence’ in Gandhinagar.

The project comes into existence against the backdrop of attacks from the AAP. It is partially funded by the World Bank and aimed at strengthening the education infrastructure in Gujarat by setting up smart classrooms, computer labs and upgradation of infrastructure in schools.

AAP moves

AAP convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has deployed his deputy Manish Sisodia in Gujarat, who has claimed to have mapped every school in the poll-bound state. Sisodia alleges in the last 27 years the BJP government has not spent money to improve the school infrastructure. He even visited many schools and live-streamed the "poor quality" of infrastructure.
On October 18, Sisodia promised to set up a school every four kilometres in eight cities of Gujarat if AAP is voted to power in the state.
The cities are Ahmedabad, Surat, Junagarh, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Gandhinagar and Bhavnagar.
AAP alleges that Gujarat has 48,000 government schools, of which 32,000 are in shambles and 18,000 do not even have classrooms.

BJP claims

Countering the education pitch of AAP, the BJP has questioned the claims of Kejriwal. BJP alleges AAP has failed to deliver on its promises in Delhi and now they are making fake promises in Gujarat as well.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari says, “In Delhi, 745 government-run schools don’t have principals, 516 schools don’t have vice principals. And there is a need for 16,834 teachers but it has not been fulfilled.”
About 40 percent of the education budget is getting lapsed in Delhi and only 330 schools under the government have science teachers, Tiwari alleges.