– Sandeep Sen (Delhi)

Delhi CM Rekha Gupta: unenthusiastic response

Swept to power in the legislative assembly election of February this year after ten years in opposition, the state’s BJP government has followed the precedent of its predecessor Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by according high priority to raising government school education standards. But six months after chief minister Rekha Gupta announced the promotion of 75 CM Shri Schools at a budgeted cost of Rs.100 crore, and 100 Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam AI (artificial intelligence) powered languages learning labs for children in 1,230 state government schools to learn German, French, Sanskrit, Urdu and Spanish, these programmes are yet to be launched.

“The CM SHRI schools aim at ensuring greater autonomy and flexibility with a focus on promoting excellence and equity in public schooling. These schools are designed to serve as model educational institutions, equipped with modern infrastructure and advanced teaching methodologies aligned with New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, NCFSE and NCFFS. The admission to these schools will prioritise talented and deserving meritorious students with high potential, thereby enabling them to access high-quality education and fulfil their academic and career aspirations,” says a circular of the Directorate of Education of the Delhi state government dated July 23. However it’s pertinent to note that the allocation for education in the 2025-26 budget of the BJP state government at 21.4 percent is almost 5 percent lower than 26.7 percent allocated by the AAP government in 2024-25.

This “borrowed initiative” of Delhi state’s new BJP “double engine” government hasn’t enthused monitors of the national capital’s education system. “Like the previous AAP government’s world-class model RVV schools programme, this is also mere window dressing. Despite the BJP’s election manifestos stretching back to 1990s promising to raise national education expenditure to 6 percent of GDP and NEP 2020 mandating 10 percent of government expenditure for education, in Union budget 2025-26 the Centre’s allocation for education nominally increased to 0.55 percent of GDP. Likewise the Delhi BJP government’s allocation for education as a percentage of the budget is lower than in 2024-25. Upgrading 75 out of 1,230 state government schools is mere tokenism and is likely to generate heart-burn among the majority of children who won’t be admitted into these upgraded government schools. Such tokenism generates social tensions. The government’s job is to raise the entire floor of public education,” says a professor of education at a top-ranked private university, speaking on condition of anonymity because he fears “institutional and government vindictiveness”.

With more than 50,000 applications for admission into the well-furbished CM Shri schools which offer a few hundred seats having poured in, child welfare activists highlight that admissions restricted to a small minority of “talented and deserving meritorious students” will leave children from poor and marginalised households behind, and/or prompt parents to force children into cramming and tuition culture at early age. 

“Token show-piece initiatives such as CM Shri schools have been introduced since the time when Sheila Dixit was chief minister of Delhi. The AAP government followed this model which has been dressed up by Delhi’s new BJP government. Establishment of a few showroom model schools is not in the public interest because it will lead to a scramble for admission. It will generate anxiety and burden young children with pressure to study for admission tests and exams. Instead it would have been better for the new BJP government to distribute available resources among all government schools to improve their infrastructure gradually,” says Dr. Amit Chandra, CEO of the Centre for Civil Society, Delhi, a highly reputed education-focused think tank.

Clearly education of the country’s high-potential child and youth is not a high priority for the BJP government at the Centre — now in its third term in office — or in the states. Despite repeated promises made in its manifestos to increase the annual national expenditure on education to 6 percent of GDP, neither the BJP at the Centre nor in the states is serious about fulfilling this vow. Instead it presents the populace show-piece initiatives such as PM Shri and CM Shri schools.