Bengaluru, Nov 24 (IANS): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Bengaluru president Mohan Dasari on Thursday claimed the enrollments in government schools declined by 1.62 lakh this year due to Education Minister B C Nagesh's incompetence and BJP government's "negligence" towards the education sector.

Addressing a press conference at the party's state office, Mohan Dasari said, "More than one lakh parents who were in financial distress due to Covid, had pulled out their children from private schools and got them enrolled in a government school. But now, fed up with the plight of government schools, they are re-enrolling their children in private schools. As a result, the number of students in government schools from class I to X has come down by 1.62 lakh."

"Out of 47,585 government schools in Karnataka, 6,529 schools have only one teacher. Most of the schools lack infrastructure and teachers. It is a tragedy that priority is given to communal politics in schools and colleges instead of development. The AAP government in Delhi has installed world-class infrastructure in government schools where the number of students is increasing significantly. The AAP should come to power here for such an educational revolution in Karnataka as well," Mohan Dasari said.

Reacting to the state government's plea to the court seeking three months' time to notify the reservation of wards, Mohan Dasari said, "It is a testimony to the cowardice of the BJP that the state government is trying to postpone the BBMP elections, which was scheduled to be held in 2020, even after the court reprimanded it. Even the opposition Congress and JD(S) MLAs in Bengaluru are not pressing for the BBMP elections. All the three parties are afraid of losing and that is why they are showing solidarity in postponing the elections," he said.

"The BJP knows that the debacle in the BBMP polls will have an impact on the assembly elections. So, the government is conspiring to conduct the BBMP elections along with or after the assembly elections. However, the AAP is getting good public support in Bengaluru and across the state and we will get a majority in BBMP and assembly elections at any time," Mohan Dasari said.