Like every year, CBSE School Board Exam results were declared in last week of May 2018. However, this year saw high political activity with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rushing to claim credit for the good performance of Delhi’s government schools over private schools.
Chief Minister Mr Kejriwal tweeted with usual rhetoric on how children in Delhi’s government schools delivered these results “despite obstacles created by LG, BJP and PM”.
Delhi’s Education Minister Mr Manish Sisodia also went overboard in claiming that pass percent in Government schools is 9% higher than that in private schools and this was achieved 2nd year in a row under AAP government.
However, this over-the-top rush for claiming credit appears grossly misplaced when the following aspects are taken into consideration –
- Delhi’s government schools scoring a higher pass percentage than private schools is not new. While AAP has been in Delhi government only since 2015, there were similar headlines in 2012, 2013 and 2014 too
- Government schools scoring a higher pass percentage than private schools is not limited to Delhi. Across India, CBSE government schools have a higher pass percentage than private schools. This has been the trend since 2013 (red line vs blue line in the graph below)
Data Source: here
- Delhi government schools pass percentage in Class XII (green line in the graph above) has been in the same (~88%) range since 2013. There is no big improvement in pass percentage since AAP government taking over in 2015. However, pass percentage in Delhi’s private schools Class XII has dropped since 2015. This makes government schools appear having a higher pass percentage than private schools.
It is in the country’s interest that children receive a good education and are well equipped to contribute to society. However, this mad rush to claim credit when there’s no actual change on the ground is nothing more than petty politics.