Delhi Budget education push: More specialised schools, foreign languages in curriculum
Another big announcement in the education sector was a collaboration between industry and schools.
Over the years, some Delhi government schools, while traditionally affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, have in the past taught foreign languages of their own initiative. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra) Education, like in every budget of the Delhi government till date, has the highest percentage allotted to it — 21% of Rs 78,800 crore.
The government, which has focused on the creation of Schools of Specialised Excellence, seen as the AAP government’s flagship projects, will now include foreign languages such as French, German, Japanese and Spanish as part of the curriculum.
These schools have the best infrastructure among all government schools. Students can take admission in Class IX, after an entrance test. All of them are affiliated to the New Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE). They allow students to specialise in their chosen fields of study such as STEM, performing arts, humanities, entrepreneurship and preparation for armed forces.
“Since the specialisations in SoSE are designed keeping in mind the global environment, we are also teaching French, German, Japanese and Spanish languages to the children. Based on the learnings from this pilot project, we will consider rolling it out to all schools in the coming years,” Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot said in his budget speech Wednesday.
Over the years, some Delhi government schools, while traditionally affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, have in the past taught foreign languages of their own initiative. The change in policy will now make this proactive in all specialised schools.
There were 20 specialised schools in the city in 2021, which will go up to 37 this year, Gahlot said. “Our target is that every child of Delhi who has a specialised talent should be able to get admission in a SoSE nearest to her home… I am happy to share that 676 children of the first batch of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) specialisation under SoSE will appear for the 12th board examination conducted by the DBSE. Of these children, nearly half of the 253 who appeared for JEE Mains have qualified for JEE Advanced,” he said.
Another big announcement in the education sector was a collaboration between industry and schools.
“The Kejriwal government has commenced 12 new Schools of Applied Learning to build a better future for our children. Apart from traditional subjects, these schools will have a professional industrial setup to provide adequate exposure to the students to develop their skills. These Schools of Applied Learning will be affiliated to the DBSE. High quality skill subjects will also be compulsorily introduced in these schools from class 9. Every child will study three skills subjects each in class 9 and 10 and one skill subject each in standard class 11 and 12. The aim of this approach is that along with traditional subjects, every child should also learn such skills which will prepare him/her for new age jobs,” the minister said.
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