Called 2021 top ranking ‘fake', AAP now celebrates NAS-2024 success
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Jalandhar: Three years after dismissing Punjab's number one rank in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 as "fudged" and "fake," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) govt is now celebrating the state's top performance in NAS 2024 with much fanfare.
Chief minister
Bhagwant Mann
, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and senior party functionaries highlighted Punjab's achievement at a special event held in Sangrur on July 6. They credited the success to sustained efforts in improving school education and lauded the role of govt schoolteachers.
While the party's social media platforms and speeches referenced Punjab's low 29th rank in NAS 2017 to showcase the improvement, they skipped any mention of NAS 2021— when Punjab also topped the rankings.
In NAS 2021, Punjab had ranked first across all subjects in classes III, V and VIII. For Class X, it secured the top three positions in five subjects, topping in mathematics, second in three others, and third in English, behind Chandigarh and Goa.
As the results came out in the last week of May 2022, initially, there was no reaction from the ruling party, even as the opposition leaders congratulated the teachers and students and also questioned the state govt's silence.
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They took digs at AAP, stating that it promoted the 'Delhi model' in Punjab elections, but the national capital's schools lagged behind in the survey in all the classes.
Eventually, then education minister and current Sangrur MP Meet Hayer broke his silence, claiming that the 2021 results were based on "fudged data". The remark drew strong criticism from opposition parties and netizens, who questioned how the figures could be fudged when the test was conducted by the Central Bureau of School Education (CBSE).
A month later, in the last week of June 2022, even CM Mann remarked in the state assembly that it was a fake number one ranking and his govt would show how to make them real number one.
Prior to NAS 2021, Punjab had topped the Performance Grading Index (PGI) for 2019–20, released in June 2021. AAP had mocked the ranking, with then Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia alleging that the achievement was due to a "secret friendship" between then Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Punjab had climbed steadily in the PGI rankings: from 22nd place in 2017–18, to 13th in 2018–19, and finally to the top spot in 2019–20, largely credited to education reforms initiated under the leadership of then education secretary Krishan Kumar and backed by CM Amarinder.
The next year, in NAS 2021, the state was at the top position. Punjab was again among the top performers in the PG Index 2020-21, the report of which was released in 2022, and AAP stayed silent.
After the PG Index report 2021-22 was released in 2023, in which Punjab was at number two in overall performance with 647.4 scores, while Chandigarh was at the top with 659 scores, it was for the first time in Nov 2023 that the AAP govt acknowledged the state's consistent performance in the school education sector, which started before it came to power. At that time, AAP posted on its X handle, "Punjab retains its top position in PG Index report," and mentioned 'Sikhiya Kranti' and the budgetary provisions for different tasks pertaining to school education and other efforts.
For the fifth consecutive year, Punjab was at the top among the states in the PG Index 2.0 for 2022-23 and 2023-24, released by the Union ministry of education last month. UT Chandigarh was at the top for 2022-23 and 2023-24.
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