Jaipur: Finance minister Diya Kumari Wednesday announced Rs 550 crore for repair and maintenance of 2,500 govt school buildings over the next year and Rs 450 crore for constructing buildings for 300 schools currently without them.Kumari, while presenting the Budget, said, “Providing children with safe school buildings is our priority. The previous govt’s lack of adequate attention to this led to unfortunate incidents.” The allocations followed a statewide survey conducted in Aug last year that identified 3,768 school buildings as dilapidated, with 2,558 officially declared unsafe, as cited by education minister Madan Dilawar in the Assembly on Jan 30. Dilawar said, “The Budget is balanced and beneficial for all. It includes a provision of Rs 1,000 crore for school renovation and construction, and 400 schools in the state will be upgraded to CM RISE schools in a phased manner. Rs 1,000 crore was also allocated for this purpose.” The Budget also announced that a Facial Recognition System (FRS), based on biometric attendance registration of students, will be set up. This initiative will be started to ensure that students studying in govt schools and children registered at anganwadi centres get all benefits as per their eligibility, with transparency and ease. The Budget also proposed constructing toilets in all schools in the state that lack the facility. Along with this, the Budget also proposed providing sports equipment and a ‘magic box’ for the holistic development and play-based education of children in the 22,746 anganwadi centres operating from schools in the state. For this, Rs 323 crore was allocated. The Budget earmarked Rs 80 crore to repair 3,800 anganwadi centres and Rs 225 crore to upgrade 7,500 anganwadi centres into Nandghars. Electricity connections will be provided to 17,095 Anganwadi centres.
