Navjot Sidhu joins teachers stir outside Kejriwal house

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Chandigarh, Dec 5

Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday took the election-bound state’s fight to the doorstep of Arvind Kejriwal when he joined a protest by Delhi’s guest teachers outside the Chief Minister’s residence at the Civil Lines here and asked him to “practise what he preached”.

Sidhu, who was heard sloganeering with the protesters, said, “An ounce of performance is worth a pound of preaching, practice what you preach, Arvind Kejriwal ji. Delhi school teachers say they are treated as bonded labour and daily wagers, paid per day, no payment for holidays or weekends, no guarantee of contract, and removed without notice!”

Where are the jobs?

In your 2015 poll manifesto, you promised eight lakh jobs and 20 new colleges in Delhi. Where are the jobs and colleges? You have given only 440 jobs in Delhi. —Navjot Singh Sidhu, PCC chief

Sidhu’s offensive is seen as a reply to Kejriwal, who has been constantly targeting Punjab’s school education, and his deputy Manish Sisodia, who recently conducted surprise visits to government schools in the state and challenged Education Minister Pargat Singh to release a list of best schools.

Days after meeting party leader Rahul Gandhi, the PCC president has trained his guns on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), especially in the light of Kejriwal frequenting the state with populist announcements ahead of the Assembly elections. One of the promises Kejriwal has made in Punjab is regularisation of contract teachers.

“Delhi education model is a contract model. The Delhi Government has 1,031 schools while only 196 schools have principals; 45 per cent teacher posts are vacant and schools are run by 22,000 guest teachers on daily wages with every 15 days renewal of contracts! AAP promised to regularise contractual teachers and 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 lakh yearly from government funds that were earlier meant for the school’s development!” Sidhu tweeted. The Punjab Congress chief also added that in 2015 there were 12,515 job vacancies for teachers in Delhi but in 2021, there are 19,907 job vacancies of teachers in Delhi. “The AAP government is filling vacant posts through guest lecturers!” Sidhu said.

Sidhu’s impromptu action today came amid agitations by the All-India Guest Teachers’ Association which has been questioning Kejriwal for saying that “all teachers will be regularised in Punjab”.