Delhi govt to pay board exam fees of NDMC, Delhi Cantt schools: Kejriwal

The Delhi government will pay the board exam fees of schools under the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Delhi Cantonment, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Monday.

He said the decision was taken at a cabinet meeting held on the same day.

The government will also hold extra classes to focus on teaching mathematics, he said.

The government had earlier said it will pay the board exam fees of all government school students, following a hike in the fees by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

"It was decided that the Delhi government will bear the board examination fees of all the students belonging to the Delhi government schools. Now, the Delhi government schools situated in the NDMC and Delhi Cantonment areas are also included under the purview of this decision," Kejriwal, who was earlier a council member of the civic body, said at a press conference.

 

This announcement comes ahead of the Delhi polls to be held early next year.

Sharing details, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the cabinet approved a revised budget of Rs 61.32 crore in order to provide complete subsidy towards CBSE examination fee of students of Class 10 and 12 of government schools and it will include migration fees, practical fees and all other fees.

In addition to the schools of the Directorate of Education (DoE) and those aided by it, the benefit of this decision extend to taken over schools and Patrachar Vidhyalaya (open schools) of DoE also, said Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Education Minister.

This will benefit about 3.6 lakh students, he said.

The cabinet also approved the same benefits to about 4,000 students of schools run by the NDMC, Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) and Department of Social Welfare (DSW), he added.

Earlier, in September 2019, the Delhi Cabinet had approved waiver of examination fees charged by the CBSE from students of classes 10th and 12th and allocated the budget of Rs 57.20 crore.

"But Monday's decision clarifies that all other costs like practical examinations fee and migration fee, etc too will be covered by the Delhi Government and the benefit will extend to students of taken over schools, Patrachar, NDMC, DCB and DSW also and the revised budget would be Rs 61.32 crore," Sisodia said.

Kejriwal also said the government has analysed the results of all the subjects of Delhi government schools and found that students are scoring above 95 per cent in all subjects other than mathematics and science.

The results in these two subjects have gone down, with students scoring less than 76 per cent in mathematics.

"The Delhi government has decided to hold extra coaching classes in schools so that the results in the subjects in which the students are lagging behind can be brought on par with the scoring subjects.

"Extra coaching classes will also be held for students who have obtained compartment or have flunked in the board examinations," he said.

In order to encourage students to become entrepreneurs rather than job-seekers, the government will give seed money of Rs 1,000 to promote entrepreneurial mindset amongst students, the chief minister said.

Students will carry out an entrepreneurship project either individually, or along with other fellow students under the guidance of their teachers while justifying and elaborating on the profit or the loss incurred on the project, he said.

"This initiative aims at building a thought process amongst the students on how to be entrepreneurs, rather than looking for jobs after their studies," he added.