Moga (Punjab) [India], February 23 (ANI): Democratic Teacher Front (DTF) Punjab state chief, Digvijay Pal Sharma slammed former Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia after the latter visited and inspected the schools of Punjab, alleging that the education situation in Punjab has deteriorated in the three years of Aam Aadmi Party government.

He also highlighted that 50 per cent of posts for Principals, 45 per cent of posts for Headmasters and 40 per cent of posts of Block Education Officers are lying vacant.

Speaking to ANI, Digvijay Pal Sharma said, 'Former Delhi Manish Sisodia visited and inspected the schools of Punjab. I express my strong opposition. AAP, during the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections, had two important promises in its manifesto. The first was education, and the second was health. The education situation in Punjab has deteriorated in the three years of their term. 50 per cent posts for Principals, 45 per cent posts for Headmasters and 40 per cent posts of Block Education Officers are vacant.'

He further said that the education framework of one state differs from the education framework of other states, so the model of Delhi can't be implemented in Punjab.

'Under no circumstances can the education model of Delhi be implemented in Punjab. In Delhi, the number of schools is 1,000, whereas in Punjab, the number of government schools is 20,000. There are 9000 private schools which are affiliated with the Punjab board, CBSE and ICSE. AAP national leadership talks about federal structure, but AAP National leadership is implementing the NEP 2020 and PM-SHRI scheme in Punjab,' he said.

Sharma also criticised the AAP government in Punjab for sending teachers to Finland, saying the culture of the European nation doesn't match here. He asked what the need was to send teachers abroad when the government was struggling to pay salaries to the teachers.

'How can Singapore's model be implemented in Punjab? Now they are being sent to Finland. If the culture and history of Finland do not match with any model in Asia then how will it be implemented in Punjab? In Punjab, 15,000 teachers are working for very low salaries. 7000 computer teachers have been waiting to be regularised for last 5 months. Teachers of girls' schools are struggling, their demands are not being met. No demands of any teacher or cadre were fulfilled,' he said.

He further alleged that in the last 20 years of his service, he has never seen so much agitation under any government as under AAP.

'Manish Sisodia has no right to inspect the schools in Punjab; that right lies with the state's education minister and administration. In the last 3 years, they have only done advertisements,' Sharma added. (ANI)