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Manish Sisodia gives education a quarter of Delhi’s budget.
New Delhi budget presented by Manish Sisodia gave almost 23% of the budget. The amount is allocated towards teachers training, execution of projects through Mohalla sabhas and skill development and overhaul.
The New Delhi government on Monday presented an annual budget of Rs 46,600 crore for 2016-17 — an increase of Rs 8,850 crore over last year, with education bagging the lion's share of Rs 10,690 crore, or a staggering 23 % of the total allocation.
Presenting the budget, Delhi finance minister and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said: "The highest allocation this year has been for education. Of the Rs 10,690 crore for education, Rs 4,645 crore has been allocated under the plan head."
Taking pot shots at the central government, Sisodia said: "We are increasing the education budget every year, whereas the central government, irrespective of the political party in power, has been decreasing the % of budget allocation for education every year."
Emphasising the good work undertaken by their government, Sisodia said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government constructed 21 new buildings for government schools last year and these would be made functional in July this year.
"We have constructed 8,000 new classrooms, which are equivalent to the infrastructure of 200 schools. If these schools function in double shifts, then they will be equivalent to 400 schools," he said, adding that Rs 100 crore has been allocated for installing CCTV cameras in all the schools.
"This year we'll also focus on training of teachers for which we'll send them to reputed institutions across the world. We have allocated Rs 102 crore for training of teachers. For skill development of students, we have allocated Rs 152 crore, and Rs 48 crore for strengthening of sports activities in schools," he added.
The Delhi government has also allocated Rs 350 crore for "Swaraj Nidhi", a fund to execute projects selected through mohalla sabhas. Sisodia also announced implementation of Swaraj Nidhi in all constituencies.
While other areas of the AAP Government maybe questionable, the work done in the education sector seems tangible and verifiable. By allocating almost a quarter of their budget to education, this government has made its priorities amply clear. What needs to be seen that of this mammoth budget how much translates on to ground level. If all works out, Delhi may boast of a highly qualified teaching staff in a few years.