Libraries, staff rooms, eggs & bananas: Schools remain high on priority list

THE DELHI government, once again, made education its priority in the annual budget, allocating 24 per cent of the Rs 48,000 crore budget under the head.

New schools, new classrooms, libraries, and 10 new Early Childhood Education and Development Centres comprise the list of promises made in the budget. The coming financial year is expected to see five ‘schools of excellence’ in newly constructed buildings in Rohini, Madanpur Kahdar, Khichripur, Dwarka and Kalkaji. The medium of instruction in these schools will be English and the schools, unlike most government schools, will have a preprimary section as well.

Sisodia, who is also the education minister, said bananas and boiled eggs will be added to midday meals served to students till class VIII in government schools.

He added that staff rooms for teachers will have modern facilities with separate workstations, lockers, sitting facilities and coffee and tea vending machines — a long standing demand of the teaching community.

The government has also allocated Rs 117 crore for starting libraries in schools. “It has proposed to set up special library in the classrooms for students of Nursery to Class V. Such libraries will be introduced for the first time in government schools wherein attractive fiction books will be placed for students in the classroom itself...besides this, 400 new libraries are to be opened in government schools for Classes VI to X,” Sisodia said.

Highlighting that education is top priority for the government, Sisodia said the number of seats in institutes of higher education would be increased to accommodate more students.