Delhi govt's SSoE will now be known as B R Ambedkar School of Specialised Excellence: Kejriwal

This countrys political narrative is shifting towards health and education, he added.Kejriwal made the comments at a function organised at the School of Specialised Excellence, Khichripur and unveiled a stone plaque dedicating all the 30 Schools of Specialised Excellence in the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Delhi government's Specialised School of Excellence will now be known as B R Ambedkar School of Specialised Excellence, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday.

''In future these schools will produce doctors, engineers, scientists, just like Babasaheb dreamt. Babasaheb envisioned an India where every child gets excellent education so the country can progress; we are fulfilling his vision in Delhi. Indians got two contrasting education systems after independence — private schools for the rich and government schools for the poor,'' Kejriwal said.

''Politicians have started talking about schools now; parties competing to call their schools better. I welcome leaders from the opposition to come and find shortcomings in our schools, we won't criticise them but improve our schools. This country's political narrative is shifting towards health and education,'' he added.

Kejriwal made the comments at a function organised at the School of Specialised Excellence, Khichripur and unveiled a stone plaque dedicating all the 30 Schools of Specialised Excellence in the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar. ''The most spectacular government schools of Delhi are being named after Dr Ambedkar today. There are 30 such schools which will now be called 'Dr BR Ambedkar Schools of Specialised Excellence'. There can't be a better way to commemorate his legacy. I am certain his soul would be very happy and blessing us from the heavens today,'' he said.

The decision to rename the schools was taken by the government during a meeting of the state naming authority held on Tuesday.

Delhi government set-up Schools of Specialised Excellence through a cabinet resolution in March last year. Twenty schools were established in 2021-22 enrolling nearly 2,300 students and 11 more have been added in 2022-23, totalling the number of Schools of Specialised Excellence to 31, which are spread across different parts of Delhi.

Out of these 31 schools, one school - ''Armed Force Preparatory School'' has been named as 'Shaheed Bhagat Singh Armed Force Preparatory Schools.' The SoSEs have been set up by Delhi government in partnership with International Baccalaureate.

Admission process for the academic year 2022-23 started in February and close to 61,000 applications were received for approximately 4,600 seats across 30 schools.