Delhi Budget 2020: Rs 15,815 cr for education, city to have own board

NEW DELHI: Delhi will have its own state board of education, announced Manish Sisodia, the finance minister, in his budget speech on Monday.

Delhi will also have 29 education zones, 145 new schools of excellence and digital classrooms, the finance minister, Manish Sisodia announced on Monday. Plus, Delhi schools will likely join the international Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA test, in 2024.

In a one-day session, Delhi Government presented its budget for the next financial year.

Delhi Government has earmarked Rs 15,815 crore for education in 2020-21, Sisodia said. This represents 24.33 percent of the total budget outlay and an increase of a little more than Rs 200 crore over this year’s allocation.

Student development

A new board will mean Delhi Government schools will be de-linked from the Central Board of Secondary Education.

Delhi government will open 17 new schools in the next financial year.

Finance Minister @msisodia announced to set up Delhi's own board of education. https://t.co/E8LqY0OeKV

— Aam Aadmi Party Delhi (@AAPDelhi) March 23, 2020

Apart from increasing the number of schools of excellence – Delhi has six at present with classes from nursery to Class 12 – the minister also proposed an allocation of Rs 100 crore for building digital classrooms in the Delhi Government schools.

He proposed to build 17 new school buildings in addition to the 20,000 classrooms already constructed. For the overall development of students, the Aam Aadmi Party government has proposed to provide spoken-English and personality development courses. A budget of Rs 12 crore has been earmarked for them.

Newspapers will also be distributed to all the students studying in government schools, said Sisodia in his budget speech. In a bid to raise education standards, Sisodia, who is also the education minister of Delhi, announced participation in the PISA test in 2024. Held every three years, the test is an assessment of the quality of education.

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