Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, Aam Aadmi Party national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday expressed concern regarding the future of the school-going children in Himachal Pradesh.
"In Himachal Pradesh, 14 lakhs students go to schools, of which 8.5 lakh go to the government schools while other 5.5 lakhs go to the private schools. This indicates the state of poverty here as most of them go to the government-run schools," said Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Expressing concern, he said, "Looking at the education system of Himachal Pradesh, the future of these 8.5 lakhs students remains in darkness."
In his address, he further added that there are 2,000 schools in the state which have only one teacher and as many as 722 schools in the state have only one room.
The Delhi CM's visit to Himachal Pradesh comes months before the assembly elections in the state that are scheduled to be held in November 2022.
Arvind Kejriwal's remarks came days after state chief minister Jai Ram Thakur compared its state literacy rate with that of Kerala and said that the state is ahead of Kerala in literacy rate.
"If we talk about Himachal Pradesh, there was a time when there were talks about who is ahead in literacy rate. There was usually a competition between Himachal and Kerala. Today, I can say that, as per the literacy rate, we are not behind Kerala. Himachal Pradesh is better than Kerala and ahead. It is a matter of happiness for us," he said in an address.
"Now we would want to focus on the quality of education, along with strengthening of the infrastructure. There was just one State University in Shimla, but we've seen an increase in the number of colleges, and also in the strength of students...the State Government has opened a new State University in Mandi to facilitate the students of nearby districts to get higher education nearer their homes," Thakur had announced.
( With inputs from ANI )
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