New Delhi: "Delhi's government schools provide much better basic facilities and have an education standard as compared to the government schools in other states," said an in-charge of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Delhi education department, V.P. Singh which however, is a counter statement after a senior official of the Human Resource Development (HRD) commenting on the bad infrastructure of Delhi's secondary and primary schools recently.

"According to the District Information on School Education (DISE) report 2008-09, Delhi stood at a much better position," said Singh, and clarified that, "There ought to be some mistakes with the details provided to the officer concerned."

According to him, Delhi fulfills all the five parameters set for ranking a state - pupil-teacher ratio (PTR), female teacher ratio, girls' toilet, common toilet and drinking water facility.

Government's norms direct 1:40 as the appropriate teacher student ratio in the 1,100 public schools in Delhi.

Earlier almost 25 per cent schools had one teacher for more than 40 students, which has now reduced by 7 per cent. The female teacher's percentage has seen a rise from 68 earlier to 71 now.

There has been a considerable decline in common toilets in government schools as now, most of them have a separate toilet and offer adequate drinking facilities.

A report of HRD ministry said that Delhi had lost its rank in the top five states on the national Education Development Index (EDI).