New Delhi: Delhi’s Directorate of Education (DoE), on Saturday, February 15, requested the heads of Delhi government schools to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Chief Minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal on February 16 at Ramlila Maidan.
The school heads were requested to attend the swearing-in ceremony, along with 20 teachers, including vice principals, entrepreneurship mindset curriculum coordinators, happiness coordinators, and teacher development coordinators.
The circular, according to media reports, also says attendance will be compiled at the entry gates of the Ramlila Maidan, where CM-designate Arvind Kejriwal and his council of ministers will take oath on February 16, a move slammed by opposition leaders.
In a tweet, Delhi BJP spokesperson, Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “The Aam Aadmi Party, which has won elections by making announcement of freebies, has enough MLAs but not public support.” “With the fear of people not attending the swearing-in ceremony, the government has issued a diktat to 30,000 teachers to mandatorily attend,” he added.
Delhi Congress’s chief spokesperson, Mukesh Sharma took to Twitter to say, “A government order has been issued asking government school teachers to reach at the Arvind Kejriwal government’s oath-taking ceremony. It is clear that power is being ‘misused’ to gather a crowd for the swearing-in ceremony.” Sharma urged Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to take cognisance of it, saying it was a matter of inquiry.
Responding to the allegations, a senior DoE official said, “The circular should be taken on face value. They have been invited as an honour to their contribution to the education model of the AAP government.” The official, however, did not comment on whether it was mandatory for the invitees to attend the event or not.
AAP has also invited PM Modi for the swearing-in ceremony
The AAP chief, reportedly, has also invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his swearing-in ceremony. The Kejriwal-led party won the Delhi Assembly elections on Tuesday with a clear majority of 62 seats out of 70 with contender BJP bagging eight seats, better than its tally of three in 2015.