30 Schools of Specialised Excellence named after Ambedkar, says CM Kejriwal: ‘No better way to commemorate his legacy’

On Thursday, Kejriwal unveiled a stone plaque at the Khichripur School of Specialised Excellence dedicating all 30 of these schools to Ambedkar, and announced that these schools will now be called  Dr B R Ambedkar Schools of Specialised Excellence.

“We always celebrate Babasaheb’s Jayanti with full joy and enthusiasm but today we have gone a notch ahead of all our works. The most spectacular government schools of Delhi are being named after Dr Ambedkar today. There are 30 such schools which will now be called ‘Dr B R Ambedkar Schools of Specialised Excellence’. There can’t be a better way to commemorate his legacy. I am certain his soul would be very happy and would be blessing us from the heavens today,” he said at the function.

दिल्ली के सभी स्कूल ऑफ स्पेशलाइज्ड एक्सीलेंस आज से बाबा साहब अम्बेडकर जी के नाम से जाने जाएंगे। भविष्य में इन्हीं स्कूलों से पढ़कर बच्चे डॉक्टर, इंजीनियर, वैज्ञानिक बनेंगे। यही तो बाबा साहब का सपना था। मुझे खुशी है कि हम उनके सपनों को उनकी मंज़िल की तरफ़ लेकर जा रहे हैं। pic.twitter.com/gqRtL2sIQv

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 14, 2022

“Babasaheb had a dream that every child in this country, whether rich or poor, must receive a good quality of education. He had to endure a lot of troubles on his path to getting a good education. He wanted that no child should have to undergo such hurdles to get educated in an independent India, no matter what the background – rich or poor, it is the right of every child to obtain the best form of education. However, even 75 years after independence, politicians have not been able to fulfil Babasaheb’s dream. There are two systems of education in this country, private for the rich, public for the poor. We came to power with a motive to change the system… teachers, parents, principals and officers supported our cause to the best of their ability, and everyone can see the change we have inflicted today. Today many of our MLAs and lawyers send their children to government schools voluntarily. This year 3.75 lakh children shifted to government schools from private schools. I am delighted to see Babasaheb’s dreams be fulfilled like this today,” he added.

In his speech, Kejriwal also claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party has made education a talking point in politics, including among its opponents.

“Politicians have been forced to talk about schools instead of abusive politics and hooliganism. A competition of sorts has taken place for the quality of schools in the country. We label our schools as the best, the Opposition comes to try to debate that instead of their hate politics. We go to Haryana, Gujarat and expose the drastic state of schools there, the ruling party comes to defend it. This is a great precedent. I have seen how the Opposition’s MPs have been trying to find shortcomings in our schools. One MP could find only a cracked tile in one school. One said there’s a wall without whitewash. I didn’t laugh or criticise them. I ordered the repairs to be made immediately. I welcome such politics…On the contrary, when Manish Sisodia ji went to Gujarat to see their schools, he was arrested by the government. I don’t understand why they did not seek our cooperation,” he further said.