New Delhi, Feb 19 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday inaugurated 12,430 classrooms and said building them was akin to constructing 250 schools.
He also said that Delhi government schools boast of facilities which might not be present in private schools.
The buildings, which house these new classrooms, also have state-of-the-art laboratories, spacious libraries, staff rooms with modern facilities, and multipurpose halls for large scale events, and provisions of lifts and ramps, making them differently-abled friendly, said a government statement.
“I am elated to share that the process of creating 11,000 classrooms which was started around three years ago has borne the result of 12,430 classrooms being ready to be inaugurated today,” Kejriwal said.
The completion of this goal within a mere three years is in itself a “major wonder for the way things function in our country”, he said.
“We have witnessed electoral gimmicks where foundations for schools and hospitals are laid every season, but actual results are not seen – the actual construction never takes place,” the chief minister said.
Kejriwal congratulated the people of Delhi, especially teachers and students, on the occasion.
“Imagine what 12,430 classrooms amount to for the education sector – when a new school is built for classes up till 10th, it has about 20-50 classrooms at the maximum. If we calculate the number of schools keeping even 50 classrooms per school, it translates into the development of some 250 new schools,” he said.
Kejriwal said that these new buildings are inclusive of highly-functional laboratories, multi-purpose halls, as well as digital classrooms, supported by the latest state of the art technology for teaching.
“The facilities which might not be spotted in the best private schools, are now available in Delhi’s government schools,” he said.
Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio, said, schools are not just built by constructing tall buildings, they are built by the conviction of teachers and students.
“We have built marvellous infrastructure, developed the best curriculum out there, but it is now the duty of every child and every teacher to convert these buildings into schools,” he said.
“The schools that have been inaugurated now have smart classes, and they are gradually transitioning to digital classrooms as well. I am working on it personally. We announced in the previous budget that we will gradually convert all of our classrooms into modern digital classrooms over the next four to five years,” Sisodia said.
Children will be able to study digitally for the first time in India. Today, Delhi has the world’s most modern classrooms, he claimed.
“I call upon our teachers — the best classroom in the world is now in your hands. Make the children in your care the best citizens of the world,” Sisodia said.
He claimed that so far 3.7 lakh children have left large private schools to join Delhi government schools.
“Their parents are also proud that our children’s futures are being nurtured in such wonderful ways in these schools,” he said.
PWD Minister Satyendar Jain tweeted, “Today Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated 12,430 state-of-the-art new classrooms across 240 government schools of Delhi at an event held at SKV Rajokri.” With the development of modern infrastructure, a new image of government schools will emerge and a revolutionary change will be seen in the education system of Delhi, he said. PTI SLB ANB ANB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
