PANJIM: The Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia on Thursday said that “it is a pain that the education system of our country is not driven by educationists”.
Sisodia, who was in Goa for lunch of his book ‘Shiksha: A Journey”, said that the upcoming State Assembly elections in Delhi would be fought on the issue of education. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader also announced plans to introduce the ‘Deshbhakti curriculum’ in Delhi schools, from the next academic year, to redefine the existing narrative on nationalism.
The book, which was initially released in Delhi on Teachers Day, documents his experiences as an education minister in transforming the public education system in Delhi.
Addressing the gathering, Sisodia said that “the pain that the country education system is having right now is that the education system is not driven by educationists. It’s being driven, planned executed by those people who are not supposed to know ‘E’ of education”.
He said that someone is the Education Minister because he is a member of the winning political party. “No one is bothered to know whether he can handle education (portfolio). Anyone becomes education minister. The only criterion required is that you need to win elections anyhow. That’s the first pain that our country is having,” Sisodia added.
He also said that the Education secretary and Education Director are those who passed UPSC examination 15 years back and are entitled for the posts, irrespective of whether they have any educational system background.
“They have never worked in educational sector but they are there just because they have cleared UPSC examination,” he said adding that under the same system they are empowered to take each and every decision in education in the country.
He further lamented that in India, teachers are not considered as teachers but as ‘tail end officials sitting in the line’.
Sisodia announced that if people of Delhi support and allow him to continue as the Education Minister, from next academic year onwards, the AAP-led government will introduce ‘Deshbhakti curriculum’ in Delhi schools. “We want to inculcate the patriotism and nationalism values in the students’ right from school level. We want to make students aware about what Desh, Bhakti and Deshbhakti, is,” he added.
He said that the curriculum would basically instil pride in the nation in children, create a sense of ‘duty’ and ‘responsibility’
Sisodia said that country has been waiting for a long time to see an election fight in the name of education. “We have seen elections been fought on religion, caste, etc. We want one election to be fought on education. I can commit to you that next Delhi elections will be fought in the name of education,” he stated.
