Atishi lays foundation of new govt school in Dwarka

New Delhi: Chief Minister Atishi on Friday laid the foundation stone of a new government senior secondary school in Dwarka Sector 19 and said it will have the facilities to beat the best private schools in the area.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said if Delhi doesn’t vote for Arvind Kejriwal, no one would work for the education of the children. “The future of Delhi’s children lies in voters’ hands,” she said, asking people to choose between education advocates or caste politics, according to a statement.

The 104-room school building will have a 750-seater amphitheatre, six modern labs, a library, two lifts, basketball and badminton courts, and other facilities, for around 2000-2500 students, she said.

It is expected to be completed within a year and will become a world-class education hub for thousands of children from Amberhai, Qutub Vihar, Sarita Vihar, Pochanpur, Bhagat Singh Enclave, and surrounding areas, stated the chief minister. Delhi government schools have consistently outperformed private schools in 12th-grade results in the past seven years, she asserted.

“No one could have imagined such success in government schools. Now, Delhi is the only state in the country where parents are transferring their children from private to government schools,” she said, claiming over 4,00,000 students have made the switch in recent years.

Earlier the government schools were identified

with smelly toilets, students sitting on floor mats and a lack of teachers. People didn’t want to send their children to government schools, she said.

However, in 2015, a miracle happened and people made a “five-foot-five-inch man” Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi said. “Kejriwal said all the children whether born in a poor or rich family, will be provided the best education and future opportunities,” she said.

After, AAP came to power in 2015, the education budget was doubled and it became 25 per cent of the total allocations, Atishi said. No other government in the country has spent so much money in the education sector, she asserted.