The allocation for the education sector has been stepped up to Rs2,342 crore from Rs1,800 crore in the current fiscal.
The word tech-savvy will now roll off the tongue of more students of civic schools. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) budget for 2012-13 is trying to raise the bar of the quality of education by giving priority to extending virtual classrooms to more schools, besides upgradation of school buildings.
The allocation for the education sector has been stepped up to Rs2,342 crore from Rs1,800 crore in the current fiscal.
The BMC has proposed extension of the facility of holding virtual classrooms to 400 more schools — 40 secondary and 360 primary schools. In the current fiscal, 80 schools were covered under this project through provision of studios and interactive facilities.
The BMC has proposed a fund of Rs367 crore for repairs and upgradation of school buildings as against the provision of Rs169 crore in 2011-12. Seventy-seven municipal schools will see a total revamp. A total of 83 school buildings were repaired over the last year; work on 183 others is in progress.
To raise the quality of education, the BMC has proposed setting up a training centre for primary teachers at Chandivali for Rs5 crore. This centre will help such teacher refresh and update their knowledge, said additional municipal commissioner Mohan Adtani.
It will be equipped with modern audio-visual facilities, conference rooms for group discussions and a good seating capacity. At present, there are 1,174 primary schools under the BMC’s charge, with 11,487 teachers. A total of 1,474 teachers are employed at secondary schools.
“It is good that the BMC has doubled the allocation for school building repairs and upgrade. But, why do we need to repair school buildings in 10-15 years?
Those from the British era are still standing tall,” said Rajesh Pandy, a resident of Andheri (E).
He added that if quality work is carried out at municipal schools, then the funds could be used to improve the quality of education and to offer better facilities to students.
The BMC has also proposed installing water purifier at all 421 municipal schools and 41 private schools.
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