Mumbai: Maharashtra School Education Minister Rajendra Darda on Wednesday termed as "unfortunate" the remark of spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar that the state-run schools are breeding grounds for Naxalism. "It is an unfortunate statement. I feel good students come out from these schools," Darda said.
"We respect Ravishankarji. But he should not have said such words. It is totally wrong. Government schools are equal to and even better than private schools," the minister said.
A person of Ravishankar`s stature should not have uttered such words, Darda said. Addressing a function in Hindi at a school near Jaipur last evening, Ravishankar had said that the government should privatise education and close state-run schools as they breed Naxals.
"Government ko koi school nahi chalana chahiye. Aksar paya jata hai ki government school se padhe hue bacche hi is tarha naxalvad me hinsa ke marg me chale jate hai"(Government should not run any school. It is often found that boys studied in government schools go into Naxalism and violence)," he had said.
PTI