Delhi government to set up boarding school for homeless children

This will be the second residential school to be set up by the Delhi government—the first being its new Armed Forces Preparatory School, which is in the process of admitting its first batch of students.

“Children from homeless families who live on roadsides, footpaths, under flyovers and stairs or on open places of worship, pavilions, railway platforms etc. are deprived of basic facilities like shelter, food and education. The government has taken several measures to provide basic education to these children. However, these measures have been only partially successful. It is not possible to get quality education unless basic facilities like food and shelter are in place… the Delhi Government has decided to set up a boarding school with modern facilities,” said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in his budget speech.

Another key announcement was the proposal for a School Science Museum to be set up in Chiragh Enclave for which Rs 50 crore has been allotted. “With this, many such topics of science… they will be able to easily understand them by visiting this museum. This school science museum will play an important role in developing curiosity and interest in science among children,” said Sisodia.

He also announced that from this year, the government is commencing work to convert all its classrooms to digital classrooms and that Montessori labs will be set up in 100 schools.

In higher education, he announced that the process of admitting 250 sports talent has been started at its new Delhi Sports University and that the government is trying to provide BEd courses at the Delhi Teachers University from the next session.

Notably, the government has allotted Rs 16,278 crore for education in the 2022-2023 budget. Whereas in the 2021-2022 budget, the government had allocated Rs 16,377 crore for the education sector.