Chandigarh, August 2026: Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia on Wednesday challenged critics of the state’s government schools to compare the progress made today with the condition of the education system before 2022.
Sisodia said that when the Bhagwant Mann government assumed office in 2022, around four lakh children were forced to sit on classroom floors, while thousands of government schools lacked even basic drinking water facilities. He claimed that significant improvements had been made across nearly 20,000 government schools in Punjab over the past four-and-a-half years.
Highlighting the government’s achievements, Sisodia said more than 9,000 new classrooms and laboratories have been constructed, while 13,920 new toilets and two lakh desks have been provided. More than 10,000 interactive panels have also been installed, along with modern computer laboratories in 5,012 schools.
He further claimed that Wi-Fi facilities are available in every government school and that boundary walls have been constructed in 99 per cent of schools.
“Those who want to speak or report with fairness should place the old picture and today’s account before the people and tell them the truth,” Sisodia said, urging journalists to present a comprehensive assessment of the changes in Punjab’s government education system.
He also referred to the damage caused by two severe floods, saying more than 7,000 schools were affected, while repair work on around 500 severely damaged schools is still underway.
According to Sisodia, the transformation is also reflected in growing public confidence in government schools. He said 3.64 lakh students have shifted from private schools to government schools, indicating greater acceptance of the state-run education system.
He highlighted the rise in the number of students clearing the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), claiming that the figure has increased from 80 to 882. He added that 2,166 students cleared NEET and 786 cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) over four years.
Sisodia also said around 2.30 lakh students have received entrepreneurial exposure through the ‘Business Blasters’ programme. Punjab, he claimed, has become the first state in the country to introduce artificial intelligence education from Classes 1 to 12. In addition, 40 skill education schools have been established across the state.
The former Delhi education minister stressed that the performance of government schools should not be assessed merely by counting new buildings or infrastructure projects. According to him, the real measure of an education system is the academic performance of students and the confidence parents place in government schools.
Sisodia also appealed to journalists whom he described as independent to compare the AAP government’s four-and-a-half-year tenure with the 15 to 20 years of governance under previous Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP governments.
“Discuss both sides and present the complete picture before your followers,” he said, arguing that an honest comparison would provide a clearer assessment of Punjab’s progress.
At the same time, Sisodia accused a section of the media of presenting what he described as incomplete or politically motivated narratives about the state government. He said AAP would respond if selective information was presented as the complete truth.
However, Sisodia acknowledged that the work in Punjab’s education sector was far from complete. He said the government was not claiming that all educational challenges had been resolved, but argued that the direction and pace of change demonstrated a significant transformation from the situation that existed before 2022.
“The claim is not that the work in education has been completed, but there is evidence that a situation that had continued for decades has been changed within four years,” Sisodia said.
He concluded that while government schools can be improved through budgetary allocations and infrastructure investment, restoring public confidence requires sustained and honest effort. According to him, the Bhagwant Mann government has succeeded in rebuilding that confidence through its education initiatives.
