Days after the Education Ministers of Punjab and Delhi decided to compare their education models, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday released a list of 250 Delhi government schools while seeking a similar list from his Punjab counterpart Pargat Singh. Notably, Punjab Education Minister Pargat Singh had accepted Sisodia’s challenge to compare the condition of government schools in the two states, while stating that the number of schools to be compared should be 250 instead of 10 quoted by Sisodia.

Releasing the list, Sisodia said that “it was a matter of great happiness” that education was becoming an issue in the country’s politics, especially in electoral politics.

“In the last five years, the amount of work done in government schools in Delhi has forced other parties to talk about it,” Sisodia said adding that the Congress Government in Punjab was claiming that a lot of effort has gone into improving the education sector in the state only after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made several poll promises for the teachers in Punjab and in respect to the education field.

“We (AAP) challenged them (Congress) for an open debate on the work being done in Punjab and in Delhi in the last five years. However, Punjab Education Minister said that he would like to review 250 schools and not 10-12 schools. For this, we have released a list of 250 Delhi government schools,” Sisodia said while sharing the list on Twitter.

Further, Sisodia said that students from government schools in Delhi have even made it to the IITs. “There are more than a thousand schools that have achieved excellent results. But as Punjab Education Minister Pargat Singh asked for 250 schools, I have given a list of 250 such schools which have undergone a lot of improvement in the last five years. All these schools are higher secondary schools. The teachers have received training within the country and also abroad and the students are competing at the international level,” he said.

“This year also, around 500 children who were studying in government schools in Delhi have cracked NEET and JEE (Mains) exams. Around 70 children have cleared JEE (Advanced), which means they are getting direct admission into the IITs. For the last four years, government schools in Delhi have outperformed private schools in results,” Sisodia said. Requesting Pargat Singh to release the list of government schools in Punjab, Sisodia said, “I would like to request Pargat Singh that as I have released the list of 250 schools on his request, he should also release a list of 250 schools up to Class XII in Punjab.”

“We will go to these schools, whether in Punjab or Delhi, and discuss what reforms have been brought in education quality, what has improved in the new curriculum and results, in teachers’ training and infrastructure, and about students appearing in NEET or JEE,” he said.

“The people of Punjab should see which government has actually worked on education and which one is only bluffing,” he added.