The Education Ministry on Monday, December 11, shared in the Lok Sabha that a total of Rs 1,35,702.61 lakh has been released to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi between the financial year 2015-16 and 2023-24 for the improvement of infrastructure in the city schools, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
This information was shared in response to a question posed by one of the members of the Parliament, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, with regards to the steps being taken by the government in order to improve the physical and digital infrastructure in Delhi schools and the initiatives taken/to be taken by the government to improve the quality of teaching in Delhi schools.
Parvesh Singh also asked about the student-teacher ratio in the schools. Singh shared that a sum of Rs 36,967.91 lakh was released under erstwhile schemes of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Teacher Education.
"These three schemes have been merged now under Samagra Shiksha Scheme and a sum of Rs 98,734.70 lakh have been released under this scheme between the financial year 2018-19 and 2023-24. Further, as per Prabandh data, a total of 940 Smart Classrooms and 1106 ICT labs are functional in Delhi," the Education Ministry shared.
The Education Ministry explained that Samagra Shiksha Scheme of the Ministry of Education supports the creation of school infrastructure facilities both through direct programme funding and also in convergence with other relevant schemes of the Central and state governments.
"Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) is then appraised and approved/estimated by Project Approval Board in consultation with the Samagra Shiksha Delhi as per the programmatic and financial norms of the scheme and availability of budgetary resources," the Education Ministry responded.
Meanwhile, on the quality of education, Education Ministry responded that Samagra Shiksha focuses on improvement in quality of education by providing support for different interventions to Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, like in-service training of teachers and school heads, conduct of achievement surveys at national and state/union territory level, composite school grant to every school for providing a conducive learning environment, grants for library, sports and physical activities, support for Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, ICT and digital initiatives, School Leadership development programme, remedial teaching for academically weaker students, support for Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat, and the like.
