The previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of Delhi claimed to spend 25 per cent of its total annual budget on education, but the Directorate of Education failed to spend 50 per cent of the budget allocated for general education last year. This information has been revealed in an application filed under Right to Information (RTI).
The Directorate of Education mainly spends three items -general education, schools and sports under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
According to information received from RTI, the Delhi government had allocated a total of Rs 4335.08 crore as an estimated budget for the Directorate of Education in 2024-25, which was increased to Rs 4836.41 crore but the department could spend only Rs 2818.23 crore out of it.
According to the information received from RTI, the Directorate of Education received a budget of Rs 2703.12 crore for general education in 2024-25, but out of this it could spend only Rs 1267.87 crore which is less than 50 percent.
According to information received from RTI, the education department definitely spent Rs 1523.33 crore out of the budgetary allocation of Rs 2085.01 crore received for the schools of Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD).
The department also failed to use the budget providing resources to school students for sports. The Directorate of Education was allocated Rs 48.28 crore for the game but the expenditure was only Rs 18.02 crore.
When the Director of Education was contacted to get information in this regard, he refused to meet on the issue.
Ashok Aggarwal, president of ‘All India Parents Association’ and senior advocate of the Delhi High Court, said that not spending 50 percent of the budget on general education reflects the ‘Nikkamapan’ of the Education Department.
He said, “About 17 lakh children study in government schools in Delhi and most of the children come from poor sections. Not to spend even half the money on general education is a violation of the rights of these school children.”
Krishna Kumar Fougat, president of the Delhi unit of the NGO ‘Democratic Teachers Forum’, said, “Most of the things remained air and there was no work on the ground.
According to information received from RTI, from 2014 to 2019, the Delhi government allocated Rs 13,425.64 crore to the Directorate of Education, out of which the department spent Rs 11892.23 crore.
Similarly, in its second term, the Delhi government allocated Rs 24,349.18 crore to the Directorate of Education from 2019 to 2024 and the department was successful in spending Rs 20,762.39 crore.
According to the information received from RTI, the Directorate of Education spends money on 79 items ranging from free books to school uniforms, computer labs, awards to teachers, buying books for library in schools.
