Happy to see my son and a tailor's son in IIT together: Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is happy that his government’s free coaching scheme has helped a boy, whose father is a tailor, to clear the Indian Institute Technology entrance exam.

Kejriwal also proudly announced that his son had got into IIT too and would study with this boy at the same time.

The Delhi chief minister tweeted: “Vijay Kumar's father is a tailor, his mother is a homemaker. I am feeling happy to announce that he has got admission in IIT after the Delhi government provided free coaching to him. This was Baba Saheb's (BR Ambedkar) vision which is being fulfilled by Delhi."

16-year-old Kumar was among the 4,953 students who enrolled for the first batch of the Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana. He cleared the JEE in his first attempt.

The AAP government launched the scheme in 2017 to provide free coaching to students from the Scheduled Castes who wish to prepare for competitive exams through premier coaching classes.

"I am very happy that my son and his son will study in IIT at the same time. There has been a tradition that the son of a poor man remains poor in the absence of good education. By providing quality education and training, we are bridging the gap that exists between the poor and the rich," he tweeted on Tuesday.

Kejriwal's son Pulkit, a student of Delhi Public School in Noida, scored 96.4 per cent in the CBSE Class 12 examination earlier this year.

In 2014, the CM’s daughter Harshita had scored 96 per cent in her Class XII examination and cleared the IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).

Kejriwal himself is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and later joined the civil services.
The Delhi government has been praised by academicians for its contribution to the education sector.

Arvind Kejriwal and deputy CM Manish Sisodia have made several efforts to improve the infrastructure and education quality in the government-run schools.

During the summer holidays last year, the Delhi government conducted ‘Mission Buniyaad’ for students studying between Classes 3 and 9.

They also launched a Happiness Curriculum in a bid to inculcate good values in students and turn students against corruption, violence, hatred and terrorism.
The curriculum asked students to do meditation and mental exercise.