Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday told students that taxpayers’ money is being utilised to fund government schools and making education free and accessible to all. Hence, it is the responsibility of students to pay back to their nation when they grow up.
The Chief Minister, along with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, was interacting with students who had done well in their Class 12 CBSE Board examinations and had been invited to the Chief Minister’s residence with their parents and teachers. Mr. Kejriwal said, “Each one of you have faced a difficult situation, be it health complications of a family member or financial shortcomings, but you did not give up. By sheer determination you achieved such a good result. The results are proof of your undeterred efforts and dedication towards studies.”
The Chief Minister added that a perception had been created that low-income families don’t want their children to study, instead want them to work and earn money. “The reality is that it was the government’s failure in not ensuring quality education to children that made low-income families to think that sending them to school would be a waste of time,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
He said that now that the government schools’ condition has improved in Delhi, the poor man wants his child to study. So many parents have started attending parent teacher meetings. It shows their dedication and commitment towards their child’s education. If the rich don’t study, their parents have savings for them, but if a poor man’s child doesn’t study, where will he go? They have the only option to study hard and make a future for themselves,” the Chief Minister told the students.
Hardships aplenty
Several students narrated the hardships they faced in school and how they overcame it to achieve good results. Some like Charu Yadav, a student of R.P.V.V., Sector 11, Rohini shared how she had given up after failing in Mathematics but was advised by her school principal to choose humanities stream and drop the science stream. “In Class 12, I scored 96% and emerged topper of arts stream in my school,” shared Charu.
Khushboo from RPVV Nand Nagri, who scored 96.6%, recalled that her parents were away at their village in Lakhimpur, U.P. during her exams, which took place during the violence in north-east Delhi. “I and my younger brother, who studies in class VIII, were left alone in Delhi and I took care of all home chores, my sibling and examination,” she said.
