Delhi government's ambitious plans for education sector

Updated on: Thursday, March 21, 2013

A world class skill development centre, lucrative incentives to teachers and students and special emphasis on technical education are part of Delhi government's ambitious plans for education sector next fiscal.

In the Budget presented, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit allocated Rs 1,981 crore to the education sector, which is 12.38 per cent of the total plan outlay in 2013-14.

Although this year's outlay is a slight increase from last year's Rs 1,901 crore, Dikshit said there has been an eight-time rise in plan funds invested in the sector, up from Rs 243 crore in 1998-99.

Students looking for admission in skill development courses will have much to cheer about as Delhi government has not only signed an MoU with Singapore government to set up a world-class Skill Development Centre (SDC) near Jaunpur by 2015 but will also start the admission process for SDC at ITI Vivek Vihar Complex.

The ITI will have a capacity of 640 students in different courses of one-year duration for two sectorshospitality and retail merchandising.

The government has also planned to partner with non-government organizations and private sectors to convert unskilled work force into trained professionals in fields such as masonry, bricklaying, plumbing, gardening etc.

Apart from vocational education, technical education has got much attention in this year's Budget as Rs 199 crore out of Rs 1,981 crore was allocated for this.

While Indira Gandhi Technical University for Women will start functioning from this year, Delhi College of Engineering has been upgraded to Delhi Technological University.

In effort to improve the quality of school education, the government has hiked the award amount for outperforming teachers and meritorious students from Rs 11,000 to Rs 25,000 and Rs 2,100 to 5,000 under the Indira Gandhi Award scheme.

The government also plans to expand the network of Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas with a proposal to begin construction of five RPVVs during the year at 2013-14. An exclusive RPVV for science subjects will also be started at Science Centre, Link Road, this year.

Adding 34 new school buildings in the city is another effort taken by the Sheila Dikshit government to improve the quality of education through its budget in the election year.

For higher education, construction of campuses for Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Maharishi Balmiki College for Education, Bhagini Nivedita College and Acharya Narendra Dev College would be taken up this year.

Delhi government's ambitious plans for education sector

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