August 2026 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal has hit back at the BJP over what he described as a campaign using misleading videos to portray Punjab’s government schools in a negative light. Challenging the BJP, Kejriwal said the party should provide a list of 1,000 schools in Gujarat and Punjab each and allow the public and media to jointly inspect them to determine which state has better schools.
Kejriwal claimed that in just four-and-a-half years, the AAP government had significantly improved 19,200 of Punjab’s nearly 19,700 government schools, while work was continuing at the remaining 500 schools. He asked the BJP to explain what it had achieved in 30 years of governance in Gujarat.
He said the transformation of Punjab’s schools was achieved through the combined efforts of teachers, principals, parents and people across the state and urged the BJP not to malign the government education system.
Kejriwal Questions Schools in BJP-Ruled States
In a video released on Tuesday, Kejriwal alleged that the BJP was attempting to discredit Punjab’s government schools. He challenged the party to compare schools in Gujarat and Punjab through a joint inspection.
“I challenge the BJP. They have been in power in Gujarat for 30 years, while our government has been in power in Punjab for four-and-a-half years. I will provide a list of 1,000 schools in Punjab, and they should provide a list of 1,000 schools in Gujarat. Let us inspect all 1,000 schools in both states together, along with the media, and see which schools are better,” he said.
Kejriwal claimed that the BJP had started targeting Punjab’s schools after AAP leaders began inspecting schools in BJP-ruled states. He alleged that instead of improving its own schools, the BJP was attempting to discredit Punjab’s education system.
He claimed that Punjab has approximately 19,700 government schools, of which 19,200 have already been substantially improved. Work on the remaining 500 schools, he said, is underway and they are expected to be upgraded within the next one-and-a-half to two years.
Kejriwal also claimed that Punjab now ranks first in the country in government school education, citing a NITI Aayog report. He said Punjab had overtaken Kerala in the rankings. According to him, when the AAP government came to power in 2022, Punjab ranked 28th in the country.
Kejriwal Challenges BJP Over School Conditions
Kejriwal accused the BJP of circulating an old video from 2018 to portray a Punjab government school as being in poor condition. He said the school was in a poor state at that time because Congress was in power, while the BJP had also governed Punjab until 2017.
He claimed that the AAP government had subsequently transformed such schools.
Kejriwal also cited an incident involving Ratan Dhillon, whom he described as an Akali Dal supporter. According to Kejriwal, Dhillon had posted about the condition of a school on social media, following which Punjab’s Education Minister invited him for a discussion and sanctioned a grant for the school.
Kejriwal said Dhillon subsequently posted another message praising the Education Minister and the state government.
He maintained that the AAP government was open to criticism and willing to correct genuine shortcomings.
“We have a clear intention. If people point out our genuine mistakes, we will correct them. But do not deliberately defame the people of Punjab,” he said.
Kejriwal further said the transformation of Punjab’s schools was not achieved by the government alone, but through the collective efforts of teachers, principals, parents, students and citizens.
He urged the BJP not to use old videos or allegedly fake AI-generated images to portray Punjab’s schools negatively.
Kejriwal concluded by reiterating his challenge: the BJP should identify 1,000 schools in Gujarat and AAP would identify 1,000 in Punjab, after which a joint inspection involving the media could compare the two education systems and determine which state had performed better.
