The lawmaker said it was time to lead by example.
Pilloried over the starvation deaths of three children in Mandawali, the Delhi government has had some good news from one of its own lawmakers. Amanatullah Khan, who represents Okhla in assembly, has decided to show his confidence in government schools by admitting his children at a school run by the government in Batla House.
After the stellar performance of the capital's government schools in this year's board exams, the lawmaker said it was time to lead by example. Mr Khan's son Anas was admitted today in Class 9 and his daughter Tahora in Class 6 of Government Girls Senior Secondary School Joga Bai.
The pass percentage of Delhi schools has reached a new high this year, touching 90.64 per cent, while private schools remained behind with 88.35 per cent. After the board exam results were declared in May, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said 168 government schools have achieved 100 per cent results, against 112 schools last year.
Mr Sisodia also said as many as 638 government schools have achieved pass percentage of 90 and above, against the 554 last year.
"Government schools have come a long way under the current government, we have faith in them. I want to set an example for others. More parents should trust government schools," Mr Khan said.
He added that his move has also inspired his family and friends, who are "eager to shift their children as well".
The Arvind Kejriwal government had marked education as one of its priority areas - taking up time-bound programmes to improve the infrastructure of schools and employing more teachers. A new happiness curriculum has been another innovation of the Delhi government.
The Arvind Kejriwal government today faced attacks from the opposition Congress and the BJP as three girls were brought to a Delhi hospital, dead. Postmortem confirmed that they had died of starvation.
The eldest child, 8, being of school-going age, the opposition targeted the Delhi government's mid-day meal programme and the distribution of subsidized food to the poor.
AAP's Sanjay Sharma retorted, "The Delhi government has been begging for a year for the doorstep delivery of ration. Who has been blocking it?" The reference was to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal - the central representative in Delhi, who, AAP says, had blocked the doorstep delivery of ration.