Delhi BJP today accused the Education Department of encouraging students of government run schools to resort to "cheating" and using "unfair means" to ensure high pass percentages in board examinations.
Delhi BJP Chief Vijay Goel, quoting findings of a survey conducted by his party, alleged a "massive fraud" in education department and claimed often teachers are "forced" to keep on pushing students to next level due pressure from higher ups even though they are not eligible to be promoted.
"The findings of this survey are shocking and it clearly reveals that the students while being promoted to higher classes are not equipped with basic learning skills. Millions of poor families rely on these schools to make their wards torch bearers of change in their lives. But what lays ahead is a dark future for them," said Goel.
"Shockingly, the students are encouraged for cheating and using unfair means during board examinations to ensure that the Delhi government can boast of high pass percentages," he alleged.
He even accused the the city government of fudging the attendence records of students.
"According to the survey, during the last 15 years, the directorate of education has completely focused on private and public schools while neglecting the education in government schools," Goel said.
Senior Congress MLA and Parliamentary Secretary of Mukesh Sharma described the allegations as "totally baseless" and accused Goel of "insulting" the students and teachers of government schools.
The BJP leader alleged that though government should have increased number of schools considering increasing population, on the contrary at least 80 government schools have been shut down by Delhi government in the last few years.
"Around 12,000 posts of teachers are lying vacant and no major recruitment drive has been carried out in the last 15 years," he said.
"The teacher-student ratio stipulated under the RTE Act is 1:30 but in most of the schools 80-100 students are enrolled in one class.
"The situation is so terrible that in some of the schools the class has been divided into two to three groups and students are called to attend classes on alternative days. However, the attendance records are maintained to paint a rosy picture," he alleged.
He claimed that the survey found that not even 50 per cent of the enrolled students attend classes for a full day.
"In most of the schools, the playgrounds have vanished as buildings have been extended rather than making new schools to accommodate more students," Goel claimed.
He asked Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to order an independent assessment of the quality of education in government run schools.
"The Delhi BJP demands an immediate assessment of quality of learning in these schools to reveal the true picture," he said.
