Rs 150 crore to construct new schools, Rs 118 crore for sports education

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, March 4

The Delhi Government allocated a significant portion of the budget to the education sector, proposing Rs 16,396 crore for the financial year 2024-25.

New ambulances to be purchased for Rs 194 cr

• The health budget saw a reduction of 10 per cent from the previous budget in 2023-24, which was Rs 9,742 crore
• A significant portion of the health sector budget, Rs 6,215 crore, has been proposed for hospitals to maintain good facilities
• Rs 658 crore has been proposed for maintaining an adequate supply of medicines in hospitals and providing free medications
• Rs 80 crore has been allocated to make free healthcare services available through Delhi Arogya Kosh
• The government has also planned to purchase new ambulances for Centralised Accident and Trauma Services. The budget allocated for the purchase has been set at Rs 194 crore

The Delhi Finance Minister, while presenting the budget, stated that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal believed that the only way to eradicate poverty was to provide good education to every child. Therefore, “When the people of Delhi chose Kejriwal as their Chief Minister in 2015, he made education his ‘Rajdharma’. Over the past nine years, through his efforts, he has brought about significant changes in Delhi’s education system,” she said.

She mentioned that in 2014-15, government schools in Delhi had only 24,000 rooms; however, in the last nine years, the government has built 22,711 classrooms. In the budget of 2014-15, the expenditure on education was only Rs 6,554 crore; it has now been increased to Rs 16,396 crore.

The government has proposed a budget of Rs 100 crore to the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) for teacher training. “In the past nine years, we have sent more than 400 principals to Cambridge and approximately 950 teachers to the renowned National Institute of Education in Singapore for training.

Around 1,700 principals have been sent to IIM, Ahmedabad, for training. And starting this year, we have also begun sending principals of Delhi Municipal Corporation schools to IIM for training,” the minister said.

The Delhi Government’s Schools of Specialised Excellence (SoSE), introduced in 2021-22, which offer education in 56 domains including STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), humanities, performing and visual arts, etc, across 38 school campuses, have been allocated Rs 42 crore for the development of these schools.

Similarly, to construct new schools and maintain existing classes, a budget of Rs 150 crore and Rs 45 crore has been proposed, respectively. The ‘Chief Minister Super Talented Coaching Scheme’, which helps government school students prepare for JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) and National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for engineering and medical entrances respectively, has been allocated Rs 6 crore. Under the scheme, 600 students have been selected for scholarships for the 2024-25 financial year.

The Delhi Government has also allocated Rs 118 crore for sports education to provide better sports facilities to athletes in Delhi.

In the health sector, the Finance Minister stated that the government has proposed a budget of Rs 8,685 crore, although the health budget saw a reduction of 10 per cent from the previous budget in 2023-24, which was Rs 9,742 crore.

A significant portion of the health sector budget, Rs 6,215 crore, has been proposed for hospitals to maintain good facilities and ensure that Delhi Government hospitals remain world-class, she said. Additionally, Rs 658 crore has been proposed for maintaining an adequate supply of medicines in hospitals and providing free medications. Along with this, Rs 80 crore has been allocated to make free healthcare services available through Delhi Arogya Kosh.

The government has also planned to purchase new ambulances for Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS), adding to the 380 currently in service. The budget allocated for the purchase has been set at Rs 194 crore.

Meanwhile, for the construction and expansion of existing hospitals, the government has proposed a budget of Rs 400 crore.