india

Updated: Aug 28, 2019 12:20 IST

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has said a free coaching scheme under his government has given a tailor’s son the same opportunity as his son and both of them will now study at IIT, the premier engineering institute of the country.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader was talking about 16-year-old Vijay Kumar, who was among the 4,953 students to enrol in the first batch of the Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana. Kumar cleared the tough JEE for admission to IITs in his first attempt.

The scheme, which was launched in 2017 by the AAP government, provides free coaching to students from the Scheduled Castes preparing for competitive exams through known and established coaching institutions.

“Vijay Kumar’s father is a tailor, his mother is a homemaker. I am very happy that he has got admission in IIT after the Delhi government provided him with free coaching. This was Baba Saheb’s (BR Ambedkar) dream, which is being fulfilled by Delhi,” Kejriwal had tweeted on Monday.

“I am very happy that this year both my son and his son are going to IIT together. For years, it was a tradition that the poor man’s son was forced to remain poor due to the lack of good education. Now, by providing everyone with good education and training, we are bridging the gap between the poor and rich,” he tweeted in Hindi on Tuesday.

Arvind Kejriwal’s son Pulkit scored 96.4% in the Class 12 board examination conducted by CBSE earlier this year. Kejriwal was also a student at IIT Kharagpur.

Experts have credited Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia for their efforts to improve the infrastructure and quality of education in the government-run schools in Delhi.

The Delhi government has also conducted ‘Mission Buniyaad’ campaign during the summer holidays last year to help students studying between Classes 3 and 9 who were not up to the mark due to the nationwide no-detention policy.

The AAP government also launched a Happiness Curriculum, claiming it will turn students against corruption, violence, hatred and terrorism. The curriculum, with a focus on meditation and mental exercise, includes mindfulness practice, gratitude, morals and value-based stories and activities involving about eight lakh students.