A Twitter war erupted between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Education Minister Pargat Singh days after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo had promised sweeping education reforms in the State if his party elected to power in 2022 polls.

Kejriwal on Thursday ended up urging the people to vote for the Congress, but with a rider. He asked the people to vote for the Congress only if they were happy with Punjab’s schools and current education system. At the same time, he asked the people to vote for AAP if they want a brilliant education system like Delhi.

“Those who are happy with Punjab’s schools and the current education system, vote for the Congress. Vote for AAP if you want a brilliant education system like Delhi in your state,” tweeted Kejriwal in response to Pargat Singh’s tweets in which he said that the Delhi Chief Minister might have missed the developed picture of Punjab’s education system as he is a Delhiite and gets interested in Punjab issues only around elections. Responding to Kejriwal’s tweets, Pargat Singh tweeted, “Punjab being better than Delhi is not my personal opinion as you are insinuating but based on an official national survey. #EducationRevolutionInPuniab”.

“Punjab having almost 1.5 times more teachers than Delhi for the same number of students is not an opinion or a “jumla”. In fact it is based on an answer to a question asked by the LokSabha member from Punjab @BhagwantMann ji on 2nd August this year. I am really grateful to him,” said Pargat Singh in a related tweet.

In a series of tweets, “Punjab having a fair and transparent online transfer policy is a fact which can be confirmed by thousands of happy teachers in Punjab. #EducationRevolutionInPuniab”

“The political sagacity of people of Punjab is never in doubt as they can easily make the difference between “asli” and “nakli” as they did in 2017 and 2019 #EducationRevolutionInPuniab,” he added.

Pargat Singh, a day before, had tweeted, “Arvind Kejriwal ji, there is already a revolution going in education in Punjab. It is another matter that you missed it. It is understandable for a Delhiite whose interest in Punjab is aroused only around elections. Punjab topped the country in school education in National Performance Grade Index (NPGI) in the most recent survey. Delhi came 6th. Punjab was above Delhi on all 5 parametres — learning outcomes, Access, Infrastructure & Facilities, Equity and Governance in the survey,” said Pargat Singh adding that the pupil to teacher ratio in Punjab government schools is 24.5:1 compared to 35:1 in Delhi.

“Since your information about the state is so patchy, I will like to tell you that we are already in the process of recruiting more than 20k teachers by December end. This is in addition to 8,886 who have been regularised already. 1,117 staff members have been promoted and more are on the way,” the Minister tweeted urging Kejriwal not to worry about the transfer policy of teachers in Punjab.

The exchange comes at a time when the war of words between the Congress and the AAP has intensified ahead of the assembly elections.

Accusing Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi of copying his policies, Kejriwal recently said that Channi is a ‘nakli Kejriwal’, while asking the people to “beware of him”.

Kejriwal to join teachers’ dharna in Punjab on Nov 27

AAP’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will pay another visit to Punjab on Saturday (November 27) - this time to participate in the teachers’ ongoing dharna in Mohali. “Arvind Kejriwal is visiting Punjab especially in support of the teachers sitting on dharna in Mohali and on the overhead water tank,” said the party spokesperson on Thursday.

Notably, Kejriwal, during his recent two-day visit to Punjab, have eight guarantees to the teachers for revolutionary reforms in the education sector in Punjab, and also appealed to the CM that he (Channi) should immediately accede to the demands of qualified unemployed teachers who have been fighting for jobs for a long time so that they can call off their strike, come down of the water tank and go back to their homes happily and teach the students in government schools who are longing for teachers.

Kejriwal had also warned the Channi Government if it failed to address the issue, he would be compelled to join the dharna of these unemployed teachers.