Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the Centre is spending only 4 per cent of its budget on education and health, while the city government has earmarked 40 per cent of its budget for both the sectors.

“Recently the Central Government has presented the national budget, and only 4 per cent has been allocated to the education and health care sector in the entire budget. While in Delhi, we spend 40 per cent of the total budget on the education and health of Delhiites. That’s why excellent schools, hospitals, and Mohalla Clinics are being constructed. When our government was formed, we aimed to provide good education to the children of the poor,” Kejriwal said during the inauguration of the newly constructed building of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Specialized Excellence in Paschim Vihar.

Advertisement

This school is equipped with modern facilities including 54 classrooms, two libraries, 13 labs, 18 activity rooms, a lift, and a multipurpose hall, where 1200 children can be admitted.

After the inauguration of the new building of the Ambedkar School of Specialized Excellence in Paschim Vihar, Kejriwal said the building of this school looks very beautiful from the outside.

The Delhi Chief Minister said such excellent facilities are not even provided in the city’s best private schools. “We try to provide the best possible education to every kid in Delhi whether belonging to a rich or poor family. Here 1200 children will be admitted. A day before yesterday we went to Kirari to lay the foundation of 4 new schools where 10,000 students will study,” he said.

Kejriwal further added that as per a calculation, in the last 1 year, they have inaugurated many schools in which 1-1.5 lakh students will commence study.

“At this speed, we’re expanding educational infrastructure in Delhi, many new schools are being opened, and on a large scale existing infrastructures are being upgraded. This school was built in 1957, its building was in shambles and was declared ‘unsafe’. By demolishing the pre-existing building, the new excellent structure has been erected. New buildings are being built wherever government schools’ buildings are crumbling, by demolishing the existing ones. Because of this, teachers and students are getting confident and excellent education is prevailing holistically,” he added.

The Delhi Chief Minister said earlier when a child studying in government school and a child studying in private school used to meet, the child from the government school used to have low self-esteem.

He said the government school students used to study in ‘tin-roofed school’, and ‘tent wala schools’, while the private school students used to commence their schooling in schools with excellent infrastructure, education, and results.

“That low self-esteem in government school students has vanished away, now interacting with students from government schools, he has noticed that they speak in fluent English. Delhi Government school students are clearing entrance exams like NEET, IIT, and other prestigious exams in different streams. Now, the government school students proudly say that they’re studying in government schools,” Kejriwal said.

Earlier, on February 4, the Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone for 4 new school buildings in the Kirari Legislative Assembly constituency, where 10,000 children will be able to receive education. During this event, Education Minister Atishi and other dignitaries were present.