Data on failure of 3.2 lakh Class 9 students expose AAP’s reform claims: Sood

Education Minister Ashish Sood on Saturday said data presented in the Rajya Sabha about 3.2 lakh Class 9 students of Delhi government schools failing over the last five years proved that the “education reform” of the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was nothing but a “filtering policy that pushed children out of the system”.

“The data exposed the truth behind AAP’s so-called education revolution, and it was not an education reform, but a filtering policy that pushed children out of the system,” said Mr. Sood.  

The Minister also claimed that the former AAP government “pushed” students to the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), noting that more than 71,000 students joined NIOS in the last five years, including 29,436 in 2022–23.

In response, AAP said the claims that it pushed students who failed Class IX to NIOS were “illogical”.

According to the written reply of the Ministry of Education in the Rajya Sabha, 31,541 Class IX students failed in 2020-21; 28,548 in 2021-22; 88,421 in 2022-23; 1,01,344 in 2023-24 and 70,296 in 2024-25.

“Today the people of Delhi can clearly see the reality of the previous AAP government’s education policy and notably, it is not a BJP leader but AAP’s own Rajya Sabha MP, Swati Maliwal, who has exposed it by raising this question in Parliament,” said Mr Sood.

‘Voluntary decision’

AAP said that out of the 3.2 lakh students, only 71,000 joined NIOS in the past five years, which is just 22%. “These students opted for NIOS voluntarily so that they did not have to repeat the same class. Had the government been pushing them to polish statistics, as alleged by the BJP government, why were only 22% students pushed and not all 100%,” AAP asked.