'Swayamsevak' with IT vision for education is new South Delhi mayor

He calls himself an RSS swayamsevak from childhood days and dreams to transform the education system of the municipal schools, driven by IT and digital platforms -- meet Mukesh Suryan, the new mayor of South Delhi.Suryan, 43, who has a BA in political science from the Meerut University, says he grew up in a village in Uttar Pradeshs Baghpat district and completed his school education from there only.But, IT is something I am passionate about, and I have worked in this sector too, and have lot of friends who work for big tech firms.

He calls himself an RSS 'swayamsevak' from childhood days and dreams to transform the education system of the municipal schools, driven by IT and digital platforms -- meet Mukesh Suryan, the new mayor of South Delhi.

Suryan, 43, who has a BA in political science from the Meerut University, says he grew up in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district and completed his school education from there only.

''But, IT is something I am passionate about, and I have worked in this sector too, and have lot of friends who work for big tech firms. And, for me, the priorities of course would be to transform education using digital technology, and it assumes greater importance in the time of the coronavirus pandemic,'' he told PTI.

The new South Delhi mayor was elected unopposed on Wednesday during a House meeting of the BJP-led SDMC, as polls were reduced to mere formalities, with just a solitary nomination being filed by him earlier for the top post.

Suryan, a councillor from a ward in Sagarpur West area, calls himself ''a Swayamsevak from childhood days''.

''Besides my allegiance to the RSS, I have been a devoted party (BJP) worker, worked in various elections in my youth days, and after serving as head of education committee of SDMC in the past, now it's a bigger responsibility to serve the people of Delhi,'' he said.

Asked about the SDMC's preparations to combat the anticipated third wave of the pandemic, the South Delhi mayor emphasised that ''we are praying that the situation doesn't deteriorate again, but at civic level taking all necessary steps to make people comply with Covid safety norms''.

''We are reaching out to people in offices, at homes, our garbage vans carry PA system on which safety norms for Covid prevention is played to make people aware of importance wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing, etc,'' Suryan added.

On Wednesday, all three new mayors were elected unopposed to the posts in the three BJP-led municipal corporations -- NDMC, SDMC, EDMC.

AAP leaders from the three municipal corporations, at a press conference on Wednesday, alleged that BJP-led civic bodies are corrupt and, even accused Suryan of indulging in corruption.

The new South Delhi mayor rejected the charge and hit back at the AAP, saying, ''What else can this party do on civic issues, except levelling baseless allegations''.

The ruling AAP in Delhi is going gung-ho about the next civic polls due in 2022 and has claimed that it will wrest power from the BJP in the three corporations, which have been ruled by the BJP for over 10 years now.

Suryan, however, exuded confidence too and said, ''We (BJP-led civic bodies) are also geared up, and we will return to power with a greater majority next year''.

But, as a mayor, he said, his current focus was transforming education through use of IT and other digital technologies.

''We are creating model classrooms -- two in each zone -- and we seek to make our civic school at par with private schools, so that people will feel proud to send their wards to our schools with confidence. Smart classroom and smarter technologies, will lead to smarter kids,'' Suryan said. PTI KND CK

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)