Mumbai: Computers for schools, chikki for midday meal

The quality of education is all set to improve with the BMC allocating Rs2,660.44 crore in its budget – an increase of more than Rs180 crore as compared to last year.

Presenting by additional municipal commissioner Mohan Adtani and education committee chairperson Manoj Kotak, the education budget focused on improving quality and requirements of the norms prescribed in the Right to Education Act, 2009.

In a first, the BMC has set aside Rs5 crore to develop and implement a school management information system (SMIS) and a child tracking system as required by the RTE.

The child tracking system can assign a unique identifier (ID) to each child. “E-tenders will be invited for the development and implementation of the SMIS,” said Adtani.

The BMC has made a provision of Rs266.34 crore for construction, reconstruction and repair of school buildings – nine new buildings will be built, eight will be reconstructed and upgraded.

The civic body will also open Std VIII classes in 100 primary municipal schools, as per the requirements of RTE. The corporation has proposed Rs73.66 crore and Rs10.53 crore to provide chikki for students of primary and secondary section respectively. “Tenders will be called for three contractors one for each zone – north, south and east,” said Kotak.

The BMC has also planned to connect all schools through computers and Internet.

A provision of Rs2.38 crore has been made to provide computers, printers and scanners and broadband Internet service to all schools and offices of the education department.

Budget estimate for 2013-14    Rs 2,472.53 crore
Budget estimate for 2014-15    Rs2,660.44 crore
Capital expenditure budget estimate for 2013-14   Rs356.98 crore
Actual spending till January 2014   Rs97.28 crore