Serving the need for satisfactory education in the national Capital, 20 new schools are expected to begin construction in the current financial year according to the Delhi Government’s latest Budget announced on Friday. The Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley said that with the enrolment rate in Government schools going up each year, Delhi required almost 500 new schools. This construction of 20 schools would complete the first phase of this prerequisite.
Jaitley has earmarked an amount of Rs350 crore for this construction. “The enrolment in government schools is increasing approximately at the rate of one lakh every year and Delhi needs around 500 new schools, as per RTE norms. In order to meet this challenge, we will flag off the first phase of the construction of new schools,” said Jaitley.
A total of Rs2,482 crore was allocated to the education sector in the Delhi Budget, which is approximately 14.8 per cent of the plan outlay of Rs16,700 crore.
Senior secondary schools exclusively for girls would be opened to promote girls educations and special emphasis would be given on improving sanitary conditions in Government schools. The Delhi Government will also be focussing on training of teachers in course content, teaching skills and creating better teaching environment in government schools. “Training will be imparted to 20,318 teachers through the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT),” said Jaitley.
Additionally, a Skill Development Centre is proposed to be set up under PPP mode for which 37 acres of land has been acquired. The centre would train approximately 15,000 students per years based on the needs of the industry. The government also pitched in for promoting
languages like Urdu, Punjabi and Sanskrit.
In higher education, a
new School of Planning, Architecture and Design will be set up at a cost of Rs285 crore in East Delhi by Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. Jaitley added that the construction of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Delhi at Narela will be expedited.