Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Sunday, 4 October 2026, launched a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab over its celebrated 'Sikhya Kranti' (Education Revolution) campaign, arguing that the claims have been undermined by a sitting AAP legislator who publicly flagged critical teacher shortages in government schools. Bajwa said the episode exposes the gap between the Mann government's publicity and ground reality.

What the AAP MLA Said

The controversy centres on AAP MLA Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana, who went public with complaints about inadequate teaching staff in government schools within his own constituency. Maiserkhana stated that his children study in a government school — including a School of Eminence attended by his son — and that teacher shortages are directly affecting students. He reportedly raised the issue with senior AAP leaders and the government, but claimed his concerns went unaddressed.

Bajwa's Broadside on Chief Minister Mann

'Bhagwant Mann can continue to repeat the slogan of 'Sikhya Kranti', but the reality inside Punjab's government schools is increasingly difficult to hide. When a sitting AAP MLA goes public, says his own children study in a government school and raises concerns about a shortage of teachers affecting students, it exposes the widening gap between AAP's publicity and the reality on the ground,' Bajwa said in a statement.

He pressed further: 'If an elected MLA has to publicly raise the basic issue of having enough teachers in classrooms, what exactly is this 'Sikhya Kranti' that the Mann government keeps advertising? Education cannot be transformed through slogans, branding and publicity. It requires teachers in classrooms, functioning schools and accountability to parents and students.'

AAP Suspends the MLA — Bajwa Responds

Rather than addressing the substance of Maiserkhana's complaints, the AAP Punjab unit suspended the legislator from the party's primary membership, citing 'anti-party activities and indiscipline.' Bajwa was scathing in his response to that decision.

'The AAP leadership has chosen to act against the messenger instead of addressing the message. A shortage of teachers is a governance issue, not an anti-party activity. If an elected representative raises concerns about the education of children in his constituency, the government should listen, investigate and fix the problem, not silence him,' he said.

Broader Questions on Accountability

Bajwa framed the episode as symptomatic of what he described as AAP's intolerance of internal dissent. 'In a democracy, an MLA raising questions about the functioning of his own government should be seen as accountability, not indiscipline. The people of Punjab deserve answers on teacher shortages and the quality of education in government schools. They do not need another publicity campaign,' he said.

This comes amid sustained scrutiny of the AAP government's education narrative, which Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his party have positioned as a flagship achievement — one modelled partly on the Delhi school reform story. Critics argue that optics-heavy branding has outpaced actual structural improvements in staffing and infrastructure. Notably, teacher vacancies in Punjab's government schools have been a recurring concern raised by multiple stakeholders over successive governments.

Bajwa concluded: 'Punjab's children deserve teachers, not slogans; quality education, not publicity; and functioning schools, not political branding. The Mann government must stop hiding behind the slogan of 'Sikhya Kranti' and start answering the questions being raised from within its own ranks.'

Whether the Punjab government responds to the teacher-shortage allegations with concrete data or continues to contest Maiserkhana's account will likely determine how this episode shapes the education debate ahead of future electoral cycles.