Kejriwal, president discuss Delhi's vision for education

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia met President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday evening and discussed the state government's initiatives to improve the standard of education in the city.

"The president was apprised in detail about the AAP government's vision on education. Kejriwal and Sisodia shared a document on education with the president that contained the government's 12-point agenda to improve education standards," an official told IANS.

The vision focuses on improving quality of education and teacher student ratio in classrooms, and ensuring availability of toilets, drinking water and laboratories in schools.

"The president was informed about the government's plan to open a world class skill centre in collaboration with the Singapore government. A Delhi Skill University would also be opened," the official said.

Sisodia, who is also the education minister, told Mukherjee that the government called for reduction of syllabi on the basis of teachers and principals' feedback, and consequently enable kids to participate in extra-curricular activities.

Skill development programmes in the fields of hospitality and information technology have already been started in 200 schools as a part of their regular course.

The president was also told that the government has initiated a scheme under which each student could get a loan of up to Rs.10 lakh without giving any guarantee for higher education after class XII. The government would act as guarantor, the official said.

Earlier in the day, Sisodia conducted a meeting with the teachers of private schools over the revision of syllabi.

He said that expert committees were generally made up of "leftists, rightists and centrists" who cannot sit together and work. Teachers are the most capable in this regard, he said.