Rajasthan Congress says it is BJP 'policy' to shut down govt schools

Jaipur, Jan 17 (PTI) Hitting out at the BJP, the Congress on Friday said the state government's decision to close 450 government schools shows that the ruling party's "real aim" was to hand over education to the private sector.

Instead of improving and expanding the education system, the BJP government always works to close schools, the opposition party said in a statement.

It was the "policy" of the BJP to close public schools, Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra said.

"The previous Congress government did not close a single girls' school in the state, whereas the BJP government has closed 450 schools in one year," he was quoted as saying in the statement.

"Closing government schools has always been the policy of the BJP. Earlier also Vasundhara Raje government had closed 22,204 schools in the name of coordination. Whereas our government reopened the closed schools and re-operated more than 1,500 schools in Hindi medium and 367 schools in Mahatma Gandhi English medium schools," the Congress leader said.

Whether it is shutting down girls' schools or preparing to cut down English medium schools in the name of review, the real aim of the BJP has been to hand over education to private hands, he said.

"Under the RSS agenda, their intention has also been to deprive the children of the poor, weak and oppressed from the right to education and to re-establish the Adarsh Vidya Mandir schools," Dotasra said.

Instead of a strong education system, the government schools of the state are being pushed into the abyss, Dotasra said.

Low enrolment, closing schools, stopping the appointment of teachers, reviewing English education, not releasing budget for infrastructure, not providing uniforms to students, not organising annual celebrations in schools and depriving excellent students of getting awards have become the new policy of the BJP government, he said. PTI AG SKY SKY

Source: PTI