New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has revealed he has found an important fan of his government’s work on improving school infrastructure and education in the national capital. Just last week, the Delhi government inaugurated over 12,000 “smart classrooms” in 240 government schools, which have been upgraded with designer desks, libraries and multipurpose halls, among other add-ons.
The fan of his government’s work on bettering schools, Mr Kejriwal said at a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Rudhauli, is Melania Trump, the wife of former US President Donald Trump. The Aam Aadmi Party chief said Melania Trump insisted she wanted to see Delhi government schools when she and her husband came to India in February 2020.
“She (Melania Trump) told Modi ji in Delhi ‘I’ll go to see Kejriwal’s schools’. She travels a lot across the globe, yet she has never made a request to see schools in any other nation,” Mr Kejriwal said.
“Modi tried very hard to persuade her, told her ‘See our BJP schools, see Yogi ji’s schools, see Madhya Pradesh schools’. But she said she will only see Kejriwal’s schools,” the Delhi Chief Minister said to claps by supporters at the event.
“We felt honoured. The wife of the world’s most powerful man came to see our school. She spent an hour, met students, danced with them too. It is a big thing. We must have done something good,” Mr Kejriwal said, raising both his hands amid more claps.
Mr Kejriwal said his government has built 20,000 classrooms – “equal to 400 schools” – in the last seven years and upgraded government schools with advanced laboratories and other facilities. “There are elevators in schools now. Government schools in Delhi even have swimming pools,” Mr Kejriwal said. He asked the crowd, “How many schools did Yogi ji made in Uttar Pradesh in the last five years? None. Not a single school in the whole of UP.”
Schools in the national capital reopened for Classes 9 to 12 on February 7, while nursery to Class 8 reopened on February 14 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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