With intent to improve the quality of students studying in its schools, twenty-six per cent (13,997 crore) of the Rs 53,000 crore budgets for 2018-19 have been allocated for education, Finance Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Thursday.
In the budget for the financial year 2017-2018, 23.5 per cent of the total budget amount was allocated for the education sector.
There will be 30 new school buildings and 12, 748 additional classrooms in the coming year. The government also proposed to set up nursery classes in 366 Sarvodya Vodyalayas.
To promote the talent in sports, the Government also announced two new schemes 'Play and Progress' and 'Mission Excellence'. The Finance Minister also proposed to replicate skill development model of world class skill development centres.
Presenting the budget, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Rs 175 crore will be allocated for installation of CCTV cameras in school buildings. A total of 1.2 lakh cameras will be installed in this year.
“The Government also allocated Rs 10 crore for self-defence training of girl students in Delhi and Rs 20 crore has been allocated for promotion of sports in schools,” Sisodia said.
He also announced allocation of Rs 315 crore for setting up a world-class skill centre in the national Capital to train the youth in getting jobs.
“The education sector continues to be the highest priority of our Government. The huge sum proposed to augment infrastructure facility such as construction of additional classrooms, new school buildings, playgrounds, clean toilet facilities etc.
The Deputy Chief Minister said tablets will be provided to all teachers in Government schools to help them keep an online record of students. “Our Government is also focused on improvement of Skill development programmes, creation of more academic opportunities in higher education, incentivising higher education through scholarships to students and promotion of research and development activities. This will help in preparing consolidated data in respect of attendance, results, scholarships etc. rather than preparing different lists for each of the above. The use of tablets will also be helpful for online training of teachers and improving quality of education,” he said.
The Finance Minister also announced to construct Phase-II campus of 'Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology' (IIIT-D) at a cost of Rs 250 crore.
He also informed the house that the 'School Management Committees' (SMCs) would be given Rs 5 lakh which will be utilize to for purchasing of books for library, teaching aids and other related works of the schools.