After his meeting with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav earlier today, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao accompanied Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on a tour of one of Delhi government's schools where officials briefed him about the change in the education system in the national capital since the Aam Aadmi Party came to power. Mr Rao said his government will set up model schools in the southern state along the lines of Delhi, and will soon send a team of officers for coordination.
KCR, as Mr Rao is popularly known, is in Delhi as part of his tour to attend national-level political and social programmes, official sources said.
Mr Rao and his party leaders were welcomed by Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, at the Sarvodaya Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School in the Moti Bagh area and given a tour of the school.
The delegation visited classrooms, labs and the students' playing area among other facilities.
Praising Delhi's public education system, Mr Rao said, "The process of turning into job providers rather than job seekers is very good. This is very necessary for our country with such a large population." "We will implement the Delhi model of schools in Telangana as well. We will soon send a team of officers from our state to coordinate," he told reporters.
Briefing Mr Rao about the Delhi government's "remarkable improvements" in education, Mr Kejriwal said many private school students were taking admission in government schools because of the quality of education being imparted.
"We have around 1,100 schools and nearly 18 lakh students studying in them. Earlier, this number was 16 lakh, but now, due to remarkable improvements in the education sector, many students of private schools are joining our government schools," Kejriwal told Rao.
As part of the visit, the Chief Minister will meet political, media and economic experts and he will extend help to the families of the fallen soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country, an official release said.
He will also meet the bereaved families of farmers who died during the "fight for farmers' rights" against the Centre.
As per the tour schedule, he will meet different political party leaders in the national capital, besides interacting with noted experts to discuss the country's economic conditions.
He will hold meetings with noted national journalists as well.
On May 22 afternoon, the Chief Minister will take up his Chandigarh tour. As announced earlier, he will console 600 families of farmers who laid down their lives during the nationwide farmers' agitation against the then contentious farm laws.
As financial assistance, he will distribute Rs 3 lakh to each family. The cheque distribution will be taken up along with his counterparts of Delhi and Punjab, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann respectively, the release said.
The assistance will be given to the farmers' families belonging to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.