According to a circular issued by the Directorate of Education (DoE), the Delhi government has reduced the budget for conducting exams at government schools for the academic year 2022-23. Earlier, the budget was Rs 125 per student, which has now been cut down to Rs 90 per student.
"All heads of government schools of Directorate of Education are hereby informed that necessary budget allocation — Rs 90 per student from Class 1 to Class 11 — has been made to the schools for conduct of exams for the year 2022-23," the circular reads, as per a report by PTI. The notice states "shortage of budget" as the reason. "Demand of additional budget will not be entertained," the circular added. However, the teachers do not seem to be taking this news well.
District Secretary (West-A) of the Government School Teachers' Association Sant Ram said, "Since the day-to-day cost of everything has been increasing, further budget cuts by the government in education will be yet another problem for the schools." He also informed that the government has reduced the funding in several other areas as well.
"The government has been reducing funds ever since the (COVID-19) pandemic hit. They have stopped the local tours as well that we used to hold every year," the Secretary said. Ram additionally informed that the local tours were first halted after the pandemic struck in 2020 and resumed subsequently only for Classes VIII and IX.
On September 9, a circular was issued by the DoE that notified this. "The yearly local tours for Classes 8 and 9 will be halted" and "revised norms and guidelines for the local tours will be issued with the approval of the competent authority" are the statement pointed out.
