NEW DELHI: The Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday decided to provide free i7 laptops to 1,200 meritorious Class 10 students under the Mukhya Mantri Digital Education Scheme. Education Minister Ashish Sood announced the establishment of ICT labs in 175 schools, each equipped with 40 computers, criticizing the previous AAP government for the lack of functional computer labs in schools.
The Cabinet has also hiked the cash awards for Olympic and Paralympic medallists from the national capital. To encourage the sports ecosystem, Olympic gold medallists will now be given Rs 7 crore, silver medallists Rs 5 crore, and bronze medallists Rs 3 crore. Olympic and Paralympic medal winners were earlier awarded Rs 3 crore, Rs 2 crore, and Rs 1 crore respectively.
"As many as 1,200 meritorious students who have passed Class 10 with good marks will be given i7 laptops. This will benefit students from underprivileged backgrounds. This will be in line with the National Education Policy, and children from underprivileged backgrounds will benefit from this,” he said.
He also hit out at the AAP dispensation over "non-functional" computer labs in government schools and announced that ICT labs will be established in all state-run schools.
"There were some people who called themselves the fathers of the education revolution. There are 1,074 government schools. I invite you to witness the education revolution there... None of them has a functional computer lab," Sood alleged.
"At a time when we are talking about experiential learning, AI, and data science, our government school students don't have functional computer labs or ICT labs," he added. Sood said the Delhi government will set up 100 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) labs in Delhi schools.
Under the Mukhyamantri Khel Prothsahan Yojana, Olympic and Paralympic medal winners were awarded Rs 3 crore, Rs 2 crore and Rs 1 crore earlier for gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
"To encourage the sports ecosystem here, Olympic gold medallists will now be given Rs 7 crore, silver medallists Rs 5 crore and bronze medallists Rs 3 crore," he said.
Sood announced that the Olympic gold and silver medallists will be given Group A jobs while the bronze medallists will be given Group B jobs in the Delhi government.
The Cabinet has also decided that young sportspersons participating in state and national level events will be provided Rs 5 lakh each for coaching and training purposes, he said. The honorarium will be given to students from classes 6 to 12.
So far, National Games winners were provided Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh for winning gold, silver and bronze medals, he said. The government has now decided to provide Rs 11 lakh for winning any medal in national-level sports events, Sood said.
The government will provide Rs 20 lakh per year to "elite sportspersons" who participate in national and international games and sports events, Sood added.