Boarding school for homeless kids: Delhi Budget allots Rs 10 cr

There were as many as 35,000-40,000 children (homeless or without supervising adults) on the streets, according to a 2018 survey by NGO Save the Children.

At a press conference after the Budget, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “When you stop at a traffic light, a small child knocks on your window and asks you for money or tries to sell you something, no one pays any attention to them. Why? Because they are not voters, they are not a vote bank. No government pays any attention to them. Today, we will make a Rs 10 crore residential state of the art facilities school for them.”

He said children first need emotional and psychological support. “All attempts to pick them up from these traffic lights have failed because they have lacked humanity. They get picked up, put in jail, put in childcare centres. No one is there to ask after them, and they return to the same situation. This school will be one where they will get 5-star facilities, and these children will be brought to the mainstream and given respectful lives and be made good citizens,” Kejriwal said.

Sisodia has allocated Rs 16,278 crore for education for the next financial year. Like the previous years, the sector has received 21.47 per cent or a lion’s share of the budget. It is a little lower than 23.74 per cent or Rs 16,377 crore allocated in 2021-22.

The boarding school for the children 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 currently in the process of admitting the first batch of students. The aim is to provide a stable environment in which children from marginalised and insecure circumstances can study.

The national capital state’s accomplishments in education have emerged as a significant poll plank as the Aam Aadmi Party hopes to make its foray into other states. In Punjab, where it recorded a thumping win, education reforms had featured prominently in its election manifesto.

Another key announcement was the proposal for a School Science Museum to be set up in Chirag Enclave, for which Rs 50 crore has been allotted. “With this, many such topics of science among students and teachers, which may seem like the world of magic through books and videos, will be easily understood by them by visiting this museum. This School Science Museum will play an important role in developing curiosity and interest in science among children,” he said.

Sisodia also said the government is commencing work to convert all its classrooms to digital ones, and that Montessori labs will be set up in 100 schools. While he did not announce any new schemes or projects in higher education, he said the process of admitting 250 sportspersons has been started at the new Delhi Sports University, and that the government is trying to start B.Ed. courses at its recently inaugurated Delhi Teachers University from the next session.