Thrust on school education with outlay of ₹19,639 cr
WHAT OTHER SECTORS GOT
KEY MEASURES INCLUDE HIKE IN SCHOLARSHIP, FREE BICYCLES TO DALIT STUDENTS, OPENING OF 1,000 PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND 18 NEW COLLEGES
CHANDIGARH: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday unveiled a slew of steps to improve the quality of school education along with infrastructure, proposing to spend the highest ever 15% on education out of the total budget allocation.
In a bid to improve the learning capabilities of students, the Haryana education board will conduct the middle school examination from the 2020-21 academic session.
Free bicycles, hike in scholarship, recruitment of 3,793 multipurpose workers, opening of 1,000 primary schools and 18 new colleges are among the raft of announcements Khattar made while presenting the budget proposals.
To ensure safety of students studying in colleges, 2,000 CCTV cameras for 24-hour surveillance will be installed.
For education, sports, arts and culture, the combined proposed outlay is Rs 19,639 crore, up from Rs 15,271 crore of current fiscal. For higher education, the government has allocated Rs 2,936 crore.
“I propose a total outlay of Rs 19,639.18 crore for school education sector, which is 28.60% more than revised 2019-20 budget of Rs 15,271 crore. And for the higher education, I propose an outlay of
Rs 2,936 crore,” Khattar said.
Under Mukhya Mantri Saksham Chatravriti Yojana, scholarships have been hiked and students securing more than 80% marks in Class 5 will be given Rs 6,000 in Classes 6, 7 and 8. Earlier, the government was giving Rs 1,500.
While free bicycles will be given to Dalit students of Classes 9 and 11 of villages not having secondary and senior secondary schools, Khattar said the board examination for Class 8 will be started to improve the academic level and learning outcomes of students.
Under Swachh Bharat Prangan Scheme, 3,739 full-time multipurpose workers will be appointed through panchayats in 3,581 primary schools. Each worker will be paid Rs 10,000.
These multipurpose workers are appointed for cleaning the premises, class rooms, toilets and for arranging drinking water, watering the plants and other tasks.
To improve the quality of education, the government has decided to set up a new model Sanskriti Senior Secondary School each in 98 blocks in 2020-21. At least 119 model Sanskriti Schools will be English medium. At present there are 22 such schools.
The number of ‘Basta-mukt and English medium’ primary schools will be increased from existing 418 by setting up 1,000 more such schools in villages.
As many as 1,487 government senior secondary schools of science stream will be converted into smart schools and free transport facility will be given to all students studying science in such schools.