AAP Leader's "Officials From Kerala" At Delhi School Tweet Sparks Row

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Atishi's claim that "Kerala officials" visited the national capital to understand and implement the Delhi education model has been questioned by the Kerala Education Minister.

"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," tweeted Atishi, who is Delhi government's Education Committee Chairperson, along with pictures from the event with the said officials on Saturday.

In turn, Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty's response was public and tart, a day later.

"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. We would like to know which 'officials' were welcomed by the AAP MLA," he tweeted Sunday.

Soon after, the AAP MLA tweeted again mentioning the officials by their name.

"Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Specialised Excellence, Kalkaji, was visited yesterday by Mr. Victor T.I, Regional Secy of CBSE School Management Association and Dr. M. Dinesh Babu, Confederation of Kerala Sahodaya Complexes," she said in reponse to Kerala Minister's tweet.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Specialised Excellence, Kalkaji, was visited yesterday by Mr. Victor T.I, Regional Secy of CBSE School Management Association and Dr. M. Dinesh Babu, Confederation of Kerala Sahodaya Complexes https://t.co/pg5Pvbv6Ce

— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) April 24, 2022

In a follow-up tweet, MLA Atishi urged the Kerala Minister for a fact-check before tweeting and attached the Delhi government press statement for what was said. 

"Dear Sivankutty ji, It would have been good if you had done a fact check before tweeting on this issue. You might want to have a look at our press release to see what we actually said!" she said.

Dear Sivankutty ji, It would have been good if you had done a fact check before tweeting on this issue. You might want to have a look at our press release to see what we actually said! https://t.co/TAUo1zcX8Npic.twitter.com/ymV8zHJzsZ

— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) April 24, 2022

It appears the officials belonged to Kerala but were not from the Kerala government.  

In a press release from the Delhi government, the "officials" are referred to as "dignitaries" and "educationists".

The MLA, the Delhi government said, explained to the visitng members about the various steps and initiatives that have been crucial in turning around the state of government schools in Delhi.

"The dignitaries visited one 'Connected Classroom', a STEM lab and a library of the school. They said, "The facilities provided to the students of Delhi were truly world class. We didn't expect the facilities to be this good in the schools." The officials were also interested in seeing first hand the widely-hailed Happiness and Mindfulness classes being run in Delhi Government Schools and were left thoroughly impressed by the atmosphere and participation," the Delhi government said.