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Budget for Delhi 2023: Education Shifts from Textbooks

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Preeti Anand
New Update
Budget for Delhi 2023

Education, which has consistently given the Aam Aadmi Party's administration in Delhi its weight, cornered the most significant piece of the budget cake with Rs 16,575 crore, or 21% of all allocations for 2023–24. The creation of 12 Schools of Applied Learning, which will unite academia and business for the first time in the nation, is the new focus, according to minister Kailash Gahlot, who oversees the finance portfolio. Gahlot said in his budget speech on Wednesday that the Schools of Applied Learning, affiliated with the Delhi Board of School Education, "will include both traditional academic subjects and a working industrial environment to give students the necessary exposure to advance their skills.

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Government to Increase the Number of Schools of Specialized Excellence

The government also intends to increase the number of Schools of Specialized Excellence (SoSE), which currently stand at 32 after beginning with 20 in 2021, to 37. These offer specialisation in STEM, 21st-century skills, humanities, performance and visual arts, and courses for those who plan to join the armed forces. "I'm happy to share that of the 676 kids in the first batch of STEM, 253 students appeared for the JEE Mains, and nearly 50%, or 114 of them, qualified for the JEE Advanced," said a beaming Gahlot.

He stated that the government would consider implementing foreign language programs in all schools in the upcoming years based on the results of the pilot project conducted in SoSE to teach French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

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Higher Education has not got Funding in this year's Budget

Although higher education was not mentioned or provided any funding in this year's budget, all teachers received Rs 15,000 in 2018 to buy tablets. Additionally, he declared that each of the 350 schools would receive 20 new computers.

Delhi Government Schools to Collaborate with Feeder (municipal) Schools and Anganwadi

Gahlot stated that Delhi government schools would collaborate with the municipal schools and anganwadis to help all children develop the fundamental skills required by the National Education Policy now that AAP is in charge of the Delhi Municipal Corporation. Gahlot recalled the initiatives outlined in the state budget for 2022 and stated that 56 Class XII students from the first cohort who completed the Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum received direct admission to undergraduate programs like BBA and BTech at seven state universities.

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