Sidhu does a Kejriwal, joins guest teachers’ protest in Delhi

Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu joined the sit-in protest of Delhi guest teachers demanding regularisation of their jobs outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence in Civil Lines on Sunday.

Last month, Kejriwal had joined the contractual teachers in Punjab’s Mohali, who staged a protest making a similar demand.

In the run up to the Punjab polls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener has announced a slew of sops for different sections of society, including teachers. Among the assurances are regularising contractual teachers and revamping the education system in the state if voted to power.

Punjab goes to polls in early 2022 and the AAP is not leaving any stone unturned to make a decisive presence in the border state. Hitting out at Kejriwal, Sidhu said the Delhi government was following a contractual model of education.

“Delhi Education Model is Contract Model … Delhi Govt has 1031 Schools while only 196 schools have Principals … 45% teacher’s posts are vacant and schools are run by 22,000 Guest Teachers on daily wages with every 15 days renewal of contracts,” Sidhu alleged in a tweet. The Punjab Congress chief said that there were 12,515 job vacancies for teachers in Delhi in 2015, but in 2021, the number had shot up to 19,907. He said the AAP government had been filing up the vacant posts by hiring guest lecturers.

“AAP promised to regularise contractual teachers give equal wages as permanent staff but made it worse by just having guest teachers. Through School Management Committees, so called AAP volunteers earn Rs 5 Lac yearly from Govt funds that earlier were meant for school’s development,” Sidhu’s another tweet read.