AAP MLA puts own govt in spot over reform claims in edu sector

Dera Baba Nanak AAP legislator Gurdeep Singh Randhawa turned out to be an embarrassment for his own government by admitting that a government elementary school teacher in his home segment had never attended school for the past four years and instead he had hired an unqualified girl to teach students.

The ruling party MLA has put his own government in the dock, much to the delight of Opposition leaders who said “this was a perfect example of CM Bhagwant Mann’s “Sikhya Kranti” (education revolution) claims.

The MLA surprised everyone present at Government Elementary School, Sadhanwali, yesterday. He said schoolteacher Kulwinder Singh had remained absent for four years and instead he had “appointed” Sandeep Kaur at Rs 4,000 per month to teach students.

Balwinder Kaur, general secretary of the Democratic Teachers’ Front, said, “The tax paying public would like to know which politician or official shielded the errant teacher for so long. And why did his seniors in the school not report his prolonged absence?”

A video of the legislator’s speech went viral. Sources said AAP volunteers tried to limit the damage but had little success. Deputy Commissioner Dalwinderjit Singh said he had asked DEO (Elementary) Paramjit Kaur to conduct a comprehensive probe. He added that he would also depute a senior officer to inquire whether such incidents were occurring in other parts of his district or not.

Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said, “I invite CM Bhagwant Mann and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal to Sadhanwali village to see how their education revolution is playing out. This is not an isolated case. I have information that similar things are happening in scores of other schools.”

DEO Paramjit Kaur said she had started the inquiry and would submit the report to the DC soon.

Despite repeated attempts, the MLA could not be contacted for his version. A resident of Sadhanwali said, “We had been regularly complaining to officials. However, nobody listened to us even as our children were forced to take lessons from an unqualified teacher.”

Mission Samrath

Under the “Mission Samrath”, it is the duty of district resource coordinator or the block resource coordinator to inspect schools and elevate the standard of education. Officials of the Education Department wondered how it was possible for schoolteacher Kulwinder Singh to play truant when these coordinators visited the institute.

Punjab