Committed to providing quality education, not afraid of going to jail: Sisodia

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Tuesday said the AAP government was committed to providing quality education to poor children and would not shy away from spending Rs 25 lakh per classroom in state-run schools, a day after the BJP alleged large-scale corruption in the construction of classrooms. Sisodia said he was not going to step back even if somebody wanted to send him to jail.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari had Monday alleged a Rs 2,000-crore "scam" in the construction of classrooms for Delhi government schools. Citing an RTI reply, Tiwari had claimed that the AAP government constructed 12,782 classrooms at a cost of Rs 2,892 crore, while it needed just Rs 800 crore.

At an inspection of a government school in Mandawali in East Delhi, Sisodia, who also handles the education portfolio, said the BJP's Delhi unit was making "unfounded allegations" of corruption against the AAP government. He explained that Rs 2,892 crore included the cost of constructing of state-of-the-art classrooms, computer labs, laboratories, staircases, music rooms, libraries, corridors, playgrounds, swimming pools, toilets, water and electricity supply systems, wastewater treatment systems among others.

"The BJP doesn't want that the kids of poor people, who have migrated to the national capital from states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in search of livelihood, get quality education... due to the fear that these students will start questioning them on the state of education in these states," he said. He said he was happy that his government was creating a modern infrastructure to provide quality education to the children and the results prove it.

"Delhi has a pass percentage of 95 per cent, no other state boasts of such an achievement. "We will spend Rs 25 lakh per room if that fulfils our objective of providing quality education to poor students. I am committed to it... even if somebody wants to send me to jail, I am not going to step back," he said.

He also claimed that "the Standing Committee of the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation recently came out with a proposal to construct 43 rooms in a school at a cost of Rs 10.73 crore, which means Rs 24.95 lakh per room". "And, this estimate doesn't include the cost of furniture, electricity fittings, water harvesting systems, sewage treatment plant, corridors, lab equipment etc. This means it is not the AAP but the BJP which is indulging in corruption," he claimed.

Reacting to it, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy were "misleading public on the cost of construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools by drawing a comparison with the construction of a school building by the SDMC". "The SDMC's estimate is for the construction of the entire two-floor school building, right from laying the foundation to the construction of pucca building comprising 30 classrooms, 2 storerooms, 2 officer rooms, 2 libraries and 1 hall equivalent to three rooms, 2 science rooms and toilets blocks on at each floor.

"The cost includes link provision for rainwater harvesting, earthquake resistant technology, structural stability, boundary wall etc," he said in a statement. During the inspection, Ishika, a Class 12 student, said girl students would earlier bring mats to sit as there were no chairs and desks but "all of that has changed now".

A teacher said the staff would un-install fans and tube lights before summer vacations and re-install them after the classes reassembled. "We have got a boundary wall now and as a result, incidents of theft have come down. We would bring water bottles from home as there was no clean drinking water in schools. Now, we have reverse osmosis systems installed on every floor," she said.