NEW DELHI: Bringing cheers to many families camping on the footpath and roadside in the national capital, the Delhi government on Saturday proposed to set up a boarding school for the city’s homeless children.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister, proposed Rs 10 crore for the unique boarding school in the 2022-23 budget. With this, the city will have two residential schools — first was the Armed Forces Preparatory School in Jharoda Kalan, announced by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on March 22.
Going by the estimates of Rs 16,278 crore, the education sector continued to get the highest allocation in this year’s budget as well. Sisodia said there were many children belonging to homeless families who live on footpaths, under the flyovers and in the open spaces at the religious places and even around the railway platforms. “They are deprived of basic facilities of food, shelter and education,” he said while proposing a boarding school for the city’s homeless children.
Kejriwal also spoke about such children. “Nobody even looks at them because they are not our vote bank. However, we are providing these kids with a modern facility of a boarding school. It will be very different from other schools because we will work on their emotional and psychological well-being,” said Kejriwal.
Another announcement was the proposal for a Delhi School Science Museum to be set up in Chiragh Enclave for which Rs 50 crore was allotted. “The school science museum will play an important role in arousing curiosity and interest in science among children and they will be free to visit the museum,” Sisodia said.
He said from this year, the government would commence work to convert all government classrooms into digital hubs in four years and that Montessori labs will be set up in 100 schools. During the budget speech, Sisodia said the Delhi government schools have achieved the best results in CBSE board exams despite the Covid pandemic and achieved 99.84% pass percentage results, a seemingly impossible goal.