The Talk
Delhi has witnessed the biggest revolution in public education. Government schools now compete with the best private schools. This revoluion, over a mere 5 years, was spearheaded by Atishi in the AAP Government. In this Talk, Atishi will narrate the journey and draw lessons of how a broken government system can be fixed.
Atishi, Activist, Politician
Atishi was raised in Delhi, and after completing high school from Springdale School, New Delhi, she studied history at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi graduating top of her class.
Subsequently, she went to Oxford University for her Master’s degree in History on a Chevening scholarship. In 2005 she went to Magdalen College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Atishi spent some time teaching at Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh before moving to a small village near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. There she was involved in organic farming and progressive education systems.
Atishi is now a leader of the AamAadmi Party (AAP), and is a member of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party. She served as the Advisor to the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, primarily on education, from July 2015 to April 2018 and has been instrumental in the successful implementation of the Delhi government’s bold education reform agenda. This young leader also spearheaded the flagship Mohalla Sabha Project for the Government of NCT of Delhi which is a pioneering effort to decentralize governance to empower every citizen.As the Advisor to the Education Minister of Delhi, Atishi played a pivotal role in revamping the state of education in government run schools in the national capital. She has been the driving force behind the path-breaking initiatives such as the Mentor Teacher and Chunauti programs and has played a key role in revitalizing the School Management Committees (SMCs) in Delhi government schools.
In the recent Lok Sabha elections, Atishi was the candidate from the East Delhi Parliamentary constituency where her exceptional campaign centred on the real issues faced by the common man was widely appreciated and established her as one of the leading young politicians in India.