New Delhi: The Delhi government allocated Rs 16,396 crore for education in its budget for fiscal year 2024-25 announced on Monday, a slight decline from the previous fiscal budgetary outlay of Rs 16,575 crore. Presenting the budget in the Delhi Assembly, Finance Minister Atishi said the priority of the state government is to focus on providing quality education to the residents of the city.

The minister highlighted that the government schools under the Kejriwal-led state government have transformed significantly.

“In the last 10 years, major changes have been introduced in Delhi government schools. We doubled the budget for education in the national capital. Today we are proposing a budget of Rs 16,396 crore for education in Delhi,” she said.

“Before the Kejriwal government, the condition of Delhi government schools was not good. People were forced to go to private schools to study,” Atishi, who also holds the education portfolio, added.

Atishi said former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had played a significant role in improving the education scenario in Delhi. She further said the Kejriwal-led Delhi government has been working on teachers’ training and has so far regularised 47,914 teachers while the recruitment process for 7,000 vacancies is currently underway.

“In 2023, 324 principals were directly appointed from the UPSC for Delhi Government schools for the first time. Additionally, 389 vice-principals were promoted to the position of principal,” Atishi said.

She said the results of students in Delhi government schools have improved under the Kejriwal government and they now perform better than the private schools.

“In just one year, around 2,121 children studying in Delhi government schools have cleared the JEE and NEET exams. Now, even a poor child will become doctors, and engineers, and start their businesses and this is the true realisation of Ram Rajya,” Atishi said. She also noted that the seats in state-run universities have been increased by 20,000 with a total of 93,000 students currently enrolled in these institutes.

Further, Rs 100 crore has been allocated to the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Rs 150 crore for the construction of new schools and classrooms, Rs 45 crore for the maintenance of existing classrooms, and Rs 42 crore for SoSEs this time.

The budgetary allocation has set aside Rs 12 crore for Delhi Model Virtual School, Rs 40 crore for School Management Committees, Rs 40 crore for the entrepreneurship development program, and Rs 6 crore for the ‘Chief Minister Super Talented Coaching Scheme’.

For sports education, Rs 118 crore has been allocated, Rs 1,212 crore allocated for higher and technical education, and Rs 15 crore for “Business Blasters Senior”.

In the year 2023-24, the Delhi education department received the highest allocation of Rs 16,575 crore. Atishi presented the budget for the financial year 2024-25 in the state assembly on Monday with an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore, and said the government is trying to realise the dream of ‘Ram Rajya’.