No other new project was announced by the BMC in the new education budget, which was cut by over Rs 159 crore
The education budget announced by the BMC on Wednesday shows a good amount of reduction. In comparison with the budget for 2014-2015, which was Rs 2,660.44 crore, it is Rs 2,501.35 crore for 2015-2016 a cut amounting to Rs 159.09 crore.
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Among the plans for this budget, in order to keep up with the computer age, BMC has decided to provide tablets to secondary school students. Rs 34.37 crore has been allocated for this scheme. This scheme is an effort to bring down the burden of books that children have to carry to school daily and also to improve the quality of education.
The 2015-2016 budget also comprises funds that are going to be put to use for construction of 10 new school buildings in various parts of the city, along with upgradation and reconstruction of 70 municipal school buildings, for which an estimated R17 crore has been allotted.
But what the BMC seems to have overlooked completely, is allocation of money towards the Child Tracking System that they announced last year. This scheme was to be introduced to trace the developments of school going children at an overall level. In the budget for 2014-2015, it was announced that this scheme would be implemented under the RTE Act.
But it was not rolled out, and did it find any mention in the 2015-2016 budget either. The VTC (Virtual Training Classroom) project which was initiated in 2011 by the BMC is in phase III this year. A total of R17.67 crore has been allotted to implement this project in 100 primary and 102 secondary schools.
A budget provision of Rs 7.25 crore has been made to provide 14,791 eco-friendly desks and benches, in an attempt to ensure no student sits and studies on the floor henceforth. No new projects have been initiated by the BMC this year.
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