Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty Sunday contradicted Aam Aadmi Party legislator Atishi's claims that 'officials from Kerala visited a government school in Delhi to understand and implement the city's education model', asserting that his state's Department of Education never sent any officials to the national capital.
However, Sivankutty further questioned, 'We would like to know which 'officials' were welcomed by the AAP MLA.'
Earlier on Saturday, the AAP leader had said that she had hosted the 'officials from Kerala' at one of the schools in Delhi, who she claimed to be regional secretary of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) School Management Association and the treasurer of the confederation of Kerala Sahodaya Complexes.
'It was wonderful to host officials from Kerala at one of our schools in Kalkaji. They were keen to understand and implement our education model in their state. This is @ArvindKejriwal Govt's idea of nation-building. Development through collaboration,' Atishi tweeted.
Countering AAP leader, the Kerala education minister stated that his department had not sent anyone to learn about the 'Delhi Model'.
Sivankutty further took a veiled jibe at the AAP and said that the Kerala government had provided 'all assistance' to the 'officials who had visited from Delhi' to 'study the Kerala Model'.
'Kerala's Dept of Education has not sent anyone to learn about the 'Delhi Model'. At the same time, all assistance was provided to officials who had visited from Delhi to study the 'Kerala Model' last month,' Sivankutty tweeted.
However, Sivankutty asked, 'We would like to know which 'officials' were welcomed by the AAP MLA.'
Meanwhile, Principal Advisor to the Director Education, Delhi government, Shailendra Sharma referred to a press release by the Office of Atishi and said that the officials were Victor TI, regional secretary of CBSE School Management Association and Dinesh Babu, treasurer of Confederation of Kerala Sahodaya Complexes.
According to a press release issued by Atishi's office on Saturday, advisor to Delhi's Education Director Shailendra Sharma was present with the officials visiting the school.
The press release claimed that one of the officials Victor TI was impressed by the Delhi government's work in the field of education, and he wrote to Atishi about the 'possibility of learning more about the transformation in Delhi Government's schools'.
The release further claimed that the officials from Kerala visited one 'Connected Classroom', a STEM lab and a library of the school and called the facilities provided 'world-class'.
'The way students were involved in the mindfulness classes was just amazing. We will also try to implement it in the same way in our school,' the press release quoted one of the officials as stating.
