Noting that Delhi government schools have consistently outperformed private schools in 12th-grade results in the past seven years, Chief Minister Atishi said no one could have imagined government schools achieve it.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone for a school with state-of-the-art facilities in Dwarka Sector-19 under the Matiala assembly constituency, she said, “Today, Delhi is the only state in the country where parents are transferring their children from private to government schools.”

Pointing out that in 2020 alone, 2,020 students from Delhi government schools qualified for engineering and medical entrance exams (JEE, NEET), gaining admission to top institutions which, she described it as an impact of Delhi’s education revolution.

In an apparent reference to the previous Congress government, Atishi said, “Until 2015, government schools in Delhi were in a dismal state. They operated in tin sheds and as soon as you entered, you would be greeted by the stench of unclean toilets. Due to lack of classrooms, children had to sit on mats outside toilets to study.”

Elaborating further on the state of government schools in the past, she said there were no desks or chairs in classrooms, windows and lights were broken and there was no drinking water available to the students at the schools. Teachers were often found absent as they were assigned other duties like pulse polio campaigns or Aadhaar enrollment. So much so that parents did not want to send their children to government schools.

In this context, she said the future of “our city and our children is in the hands of Delhi’ites”. “You must decide whether you want leaders who focus on building good schools or those who engage in divisive politics,” she said addressing the people of Delhi making an election pitch.

“If Delhi’ites don’t vote for those who work on education, no one will work for the future of our children. Therefore, the future of Delhi’s children is in the hands of Delhi’ites. And I hope Delhi’ites will vote wisely for a better future for their children,” she said, referring to the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections.