New Delhi: Continuing to give priority to education, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia gave 24 per cent of the total outlay in his Budget to the sector, with an increase from Rs 10,690 crore to Rs 11,300 crore.
The government has allocated Rs 17 crore to build libraries for primary classes, which will consist of attractive fiction books. Also, 400 new libraries for Classes 6 to 10 will be opened, for which Rs 100 crore has been allocated. 156 government schools will have pre-primary classes by this year with upgraded infrastructure facilities.
“I am really happy with the Budget as it focuses on providing modern infrastructure in our schools. It would now come in par with the private schools. Having more libraries and computer labs will help us to enhance our skills to a large extent,” said Namit Singh, a Class 7 student.
While 24 new schools will start functioning this year, the construction of 10,000 new classrooms will be started in the next fiscal.
The government has allocated Rs 4 crore to Ambedkar University (AU) for setting up 10 early childhood learning centres on a pilot basis.
For the schools operating in two shifts, there will be two computer labs for which Rs 182 crore have been allotted. Dance teachers will also be appointed for the first time, in all 1,024 government schools.
Ambedkar University, which at present functions from Kashmere Gate and Karampura campuses, will get four extension campuses by 2022.
The government will be constructing two multi-storey sports hostels with modern facilities wherein 2,350 can be accommodated and also open Delhi’s first pharmaceutical university in the city.
The Delhi government has decided to expand the coverage of the midday meal scheme to all girl students of Classes 9 to 12. Also, it would supplement the existing nutrition content of midday meal in government schools by providing banana and boiled egg to each student.
The government has provided an outlay of allocating Rs 55 crore for these additions to the midday meal scheme.
The teachers will be provided with computer tablets so that they are able to maintain various data and other information of students.
“This was the need of the hour because maintaining the data by doing paper work used to take a lot of time. And since technology is being used in almost every work, I believe this will make our work a lot easier and save time,” said Vidisha Roy, a teacher
