Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that if at all there were any model of primary education in the country, it’s Gujarat Model developed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was the Chief Minister of the State. He made the claim while inaugurating four smart schools set up in Thaltej area of Gandhinagar by the civic body.
“You all know that we work for the five years for development while some people jump in the fray just five months before the elections,” Mr. Shah said in an oblique reference to AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal, who has been critical of the poor quality education in Gujarat and has promised to overhaul the education sector in the State if AAP is voted to power in the Assembly election to be held in December.
“After becoming Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi launched new initiatives like Kanya Kelavani (girl child education) and Gunotsav (quality assessment) to raise the enrolment ratio to 100% and also brought the dropout ratio to almost zero,” Mr. Shah said, adding primary education in the State got primacy only after Mr. Modi became the CM.
According to him, setting up of these four Anupam Smart Shalas (unique smart schools) by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is the beginning of a new chapter in primary school education in the city. The civic body will set up 22 such facilities, he added.
Taking on the AAP, Mr. Shah said that as the elections are round the corner, there are two types of people. There are people who contest elections after delivering public service for five years and then there are those who put on new robes five months before the election and come to the public with a slew of promises of freebies, he claimed.
The people of Gujarat are smart and discerning and can see through the promises of freebies that are made every day before the elections, he added.
Despite these jibes, the BJP government has given increased attention to education — with the focus on setting up new schools in the cities and rural areas — after the AAP targeted the “poor quality” education in government schools in the State.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a new school monitoring centre set up in Gandhinagar and lauded it. The PM had said that the Centre would bring out quality improvements in the schools across the State, while asking other States to set up such centres as part of overhauling the primary education.
Before the PM’s visit, Delhi’s deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia had visited a few schools in the State and had slammed the authorities for poor amenities in the schools.
Mr. Sisodia had asked the BJP leaders to visit the schools set up the Delhi government and observe how new learning practices led to improvement of standards in the State-run schools.
Prison Duty meet
Besides inaugurating new schools, Mr. Shah also inaugurated the sixth three-day All India Prison Duty Meet in Ahmedabad, where he said that the view with which jails are seen in society needs to be changed. “Not every person jailed is criminal by nature and sometimes it is their circumstances that force the involvement,” he added.
He also said that jail administration is responsible for the re-induction of those who are not natural, born, habitual criminals into society.
