India News | AAP, BJP Spar over Payment of Salaries to Teachers in MCD Schools

New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) The AAP claimed that BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation has not been providing education to primary students in the COVID-19 pandemic and fired over 600 teachers.

Responding to the charge, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) should know that North MCD primary schools have not been opened for physical attendance yet as the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has not given the approval while online classes are going on.

Also Read | TS EdCET 2021 Result Declared At edcet.tsche.ac.in; Here Are Steps To Download The Rank Card.

Addressing a press conference, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed "BJP-ruled North municipal corporation stopped giving education to primary students in the pandemic and fired 687 teachers".

"As many as 70,000 students have dropped out of school due to the BJP-ruled MCD not providing education to children of classes 1 to 5. North MCD says that they are not teaching children during COVID as teaching during the pandemic will harm children," he said.

Also Read | OnePlus Nord 2 5G Review: Best Mid-Range Phone To Buy Right Now?.

For the last one-and-a-half years, Bhardwaj claimed the North MCD has not been providing primary education, so imagine what would have happened to those children.

"All the private schools in Delhi are providing education to young children, but the North MCD has stopped it. Will take the issue of teachers to the Education Minister and look for a solution," he asked.

BJP's Kapoor said it seems AAP leaders like Bhardwaj have lost all respect for political accountability while making statements.

"Saurabh Bhardwaj should know that North MCD primary schools like all primary schools have not been opened for physical attendance as the Kejriwal government's Delhi Disaster Management Authority has not yet allowed physical attendance for primary school students. In almost all North MCD schools, online classes are being regularly conducted," he said.

Regarding the teachers, their jobs were contractual with a salary of Rs 35,420 per month which is paid under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The annual salary bill of the total 667 contractual teachers is Rs 23.62 crore out of which 25 per cent is paid by Centre while 75 per cent is to be paid by Delhi government.

"The Kejriwal government stopped paying the salary of these contractual teachers in May 2020 after which North MCD had no option but to suspend their contracts. Despite suspending them, North MCD has been repeatedly writing to the Delhi government to pay their salary so that they can be reinstated but they are not releasing funds," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)