NEW DELHI: Education minister Manish Sisodia told a group of teachers that 40,000 teachers have responded to the proposal for syllabus reduction that's been made public.

He was speaking at a meeting with 200 private school teachers organised by the Federation of Public Schools on Thursday. He also countered criticism from several quarters that education and curriculum experts have not been consulted before taking the decision, saying that no educationist's opinion can be bigger than what 40,000-50,000 teachers think.

Sisodia and CM Arvind Kejriwal also met President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday to discuss the Delhi government's initiatives on education. "By July 2016, each classroom should have less than 50 students," promises a document submitted to the government. Also, all EWS admissions will be online from next year. A new sports university is also in the works.

Sisodia has come in for severe criticism by academics, many of whom were involved in the writing of the NCERT syllabus concerned. They include former AAP member Yogendra Yadav. "People said we should have a committee of education experts, syllabus experts," said Sisodia. "When I went through the names, I got to know some are leftist, some rightist, some centrist. Can you all come together and think of the kids? Teachers think of kids because the entire year they have to face kids who are not listening, not understanding. Experts just picked something up and compiled books and gave them for teaching. I am against it".

Sisodia added he agreed to some of the recommendations and disagreed with some. He also said he is "not going to distinguish between private and government schools" although the syllabus culling is only for government schools-a move that have been most criticized.

The meeting with the president was meant, mainly, for apprising Mukherjee of what they government has been up to in the field of education. A list of a dozen "initiatives" was furnished. The government has given itself till July 2016 to meet many of the targets including furnishing clean toilets, clean drinking water, science labs and other activity rooms.

