Hitting back over Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's comments on Punjab's government schools, state education minister Vijay Inder Singla advised Delhi counterpart Manish Sisodia to first check fact regarding the status of "Learning Level and Quality" parameter in "Performance Grading Index" released by Centre.
Vijay Inder told Delhi Dy CM not to stoop so low to unnecessarily politicise the issue.
Vijay Inder Singla's response comes after Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia on Saturday alleged a "secret" friendship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, after Punjab was ranked number one in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 by the Centre.
"Captain (Amarinder Singh) has got the blessings of Modiji. Delhi's schools have been ranked much below. Nearly 800 government schools in Punjab have been shut down in the last five years and many schools have been handed over to private entities but Punjab has been ranked on the top," he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in opposition in the Congress-governed Punjab where Assembly polls is slated for early next year. Modi's BJP is another opposition party in Punjab.
Sisodia alleged that Punjab's government schools have poor educational facilities for students and parents prefer to send their children to private schools.
The index is an effort to hide the incompetence of the Punjab government in the field of school education, he alleged.
However, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh charged Sisodia for making such remarks and described it as "atrocious".
"Come to Punjab and I will show you around our schools," said Amarinder to Sisodia, adding that the revamp of the state's schools was an exercise undertaken by his government as a top priority and the ranking released by the Union Education Minister recently reflected the success of those efforts.
