Government Rejects AAP’s Claim That Teachers Were Instructed to Count Dogs

In a heated exchange over education policy, Delhi’s Education Minister Ashish Sood has strongly refuted accusations from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that teachers were assigned duties to count and manage stray dogs in the city.

The controversy erupted during a press conference on Tuesday, where Sood characterized the allegations as deliberate misinformation from a party struggling to accept its recent electoral defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections. “Instead of accepting defeat, AAP leaders are spreading lies for social media traction,” Sood stated, explicitly denying that teachers had been given any responsibilities related to stray dog management.

The minister issued a direct challenge to AAP, asking the opposition party to publicly present any government order that would substantiate their claims about teachers being diverted from educational duties to animal control tasks.

The dispute intensified when former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to double down on the allegations. “Will teachers in Delhi’s government schools teach children, or will they count dogs on the streets instead?” Kejriwal wrote, suggesting that a recent directive from the BJP-led Delhi government revealed their “thinking and priorities.” He further accused the administration of “insulting teachers and ruining schools.”

To support his claim, Kejriwal referenced a November 20 order from the Education Department that mentioned the “identification, vaccination and sterilisation of stray dogs to ensure safety for students and the public” as its “primary focus.”

Minister Sood quickly countered this interpretation, clarifying that the order did not assign teachers any animal counting or control responsibilities. “We decided that schools should be aware of how to report complaints related to stray dog attacks and ensure that dogs do not enter school premises,” he explained, framing the directive as a safety measure rather than a reassignment of teacher duties.

This dispute highlights ongoing tensions in Delhi’s education sector following the recent change in government. Education policies have been a critical battleground between the BJP and AAP for several years, with both sides claiming to champion improvements in public schooling.

Sood also accused AAP of establishing a pattern of making “false claims,” citing a December 25 allegation that claimed the government had ordered action against children who came to schools dressed as Santa Claus during Christmas celebrations. “If AAP has any such order, why is it not making it public?” the minister questioned.

The education minister went further in his criticism, claiming that during its time in power, the opposition party had “neither carried out substantial work in the education sector nor contributed meaningfully to the city’s development.” According to Sood, AAP’s political approach relied “solely on lies, noise and a politics of allegations and counter-allegations.”

AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj responded to these statements by reaffirming the party’s position, saying, “By assigning stray dog duties to teachers, the BJP government is openly undermining public education.”

The controversy comes at a time when Delhi’s education system faces numerous challenges, including infrastructure needs, teacher shortages in some areas, and recovery from pandemic-related learning losses. Educational experts have repeatedly called for keeping schools and education policy above partisan politics to ensure consistent focus on student outcomes.

The dispute over the stray dog directive reflects broader governance tensions as the new administration implements its policies while facing scrutiny from the opposition. Analysts note that education remains a politically sensitive issue in Delhi, where both parties have made it central to their governance platforms and electoral promises.