Delhi government built over 8,000 classrooms since 2015: Sisodia

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has constructed over 8,000 classrooms in its schools since 2015, education minister Manish Sisodia said on Saturday, saying 12,000 more classrooms will be built by the year-end.

"More than 8,000 new classrooms have been built in Delhi government schools. Construction of 11,000 has been started while tender for 1,000 has been floated," Sisodia tweeted.

He added that in 2015, there were 17,000 broken classrooms in Delhi government schools.

"Now there are 25,000+ classrooms in good condition that will become 37,000 by the end of this year," he said.

Education and health have been the main focus of the Delhi government since it came to power in 2015.

Public education in Delhi has received a huge fillip, with the state government allocating 26 percent of its Budget on the education department this year.

Last year, while tabling the 2018-19 Budget, Delhi finance minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, had said funding to education increased by 2.5 percent compared to last year's allocation. He said an amount of Rs 13,997 crore has been set aside for the education department this year from a total Rs 53,000 crore Budget.

Delhi's education spending dwarfs the ratios set aside by the municipal corporations of Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru towards this sector –which have allocated 9 percent, 1.5 percent, 5 percent and 0.6 percent respectively. It's also 13 percent higher than the spending on education under the previous Delhi state government, led by the Congress.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government has directed all schools in the national capital to maintain a minimum of 220 working days in an academic year for upper primary classes. The directions were issued to heads of all state-run and private schools here by the government.

"All the head of schools are directed to adhere to the provision laid down in the Right to Education Act (RTE) in respect of mandatory 220 working days in an academic year for upper primary classes," the Directorate of Education said in a communication to school principals.

"It is the responsibility of the respective school managements to ensure that the schools under their control must observe the minimum working days and holidays in the academic calendar are approved beforehand," it added.