While the campaigning for Gujarat elections is in full swing, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has announced cost-cutting in conducting exams in schools. According to a circular released by the Directorate of Education, the Delhi government has lowered the budget for administering exams in the schools it manages from Rs 125 to Rs 90 per student for 2022–23. (DoE).

The cost of the examinations will be examined, and if necessary, a “supplementary grant” will be given for “exam-related expenses” during the second term of the current academic session, according to sources in the DoE.

The circular dated September 16 stated, “All heads of government schools of the Directorate of Education are hereby informed that the necessary budget allocation – Rs 90 per student from Class 1 to Class 11 – has been made to the schools for the conduct of exams for the year 2022-23.”

The expenditure is limited to Rs 90 per student rather than Rs 125, according to the statement’s further explanation, due to a “shortage of funding.” Demand for more money won’t be granted, it continued.

Sant Ram, district secretary (West-A) of the Government School Teachers’ Association stated, “Since the day-to-day cost of everything has been increasing, further budget cuts by the government in education will be yet another problem for schools.”

He mentioned that the city government had reduced funding in several other areas in addition to education. The local excursions, he continued, had been suspended during the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 before being reinstated for only Classes 8 and 9.

The annual tours for Classes 8 and 9 would be discontinued, according to a DoE circular that was released on September 9; it also stated that “new norms and guidelines for the local visits will be issued with the permission of the relevant authority.”

It is interesting to note where the Kejriwal-led party is campaigning against BJP in Gujarat and seems like they have invested a heavy amount in advertisements across Gujarat, Delhi, and Punjab as well. Not only this Kejriwal has hired a Public relations company that is staging actors in front of the crowd to make Kejriwal look like a hero.

In the month of May, an RTI revealed that the Aam Aadmi Party increased its expenditure on advertisements by 4273% from 2012 to 2022.

In 2021–2022, “other charges” (advt. costs booked under this area in addition to some other miscellaneous expenditure) and “advertisement and publicity” accounted for a combined total of 488.97 crores in spending, with March contributing 125.15 crores, according to the May 19 reply. March typically has the biggest spending each year because it’s the last month of the fiscal year. According to another RTI response the government provided to Mr. Kumar in 2021, the government spent 11.18 crore in 2012–2013.

Since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took office in 2015, the amount spent on advertising has increased four times when compared to the corresponding prior fiscal years and decreased twice. The expenditures went from 81.23 crore in 2015–2016 to 67.25 crore in 2016–2017 and from 117.76 crores in 2017–2018 to 45.54 crore in 2018–2019. The response states that during the two COVID-19 pandemic years, advertising costs were 199.99 crores in 2019–2020 and 293.20 crores in 2020–21.

Now, it can be said that the government that talks about its education model that was mentioned in the New York Times is undermining the education and the convenience of children over their political ambitions.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.