BMC Allocates Funds for Vision 2027 to Enhance School Education

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced 'Vision 2027' for the all-round development of students in schools under the civic body's management. BMC commissioner and administrator Bhushan Gagrani used the acronym 'SAMPURN' (S-School Infrastructure, A-Admission, M-Merit, P-Productivity, U-Universalisation of Education, R-Responsibility, N-Nutrition and Health) while presenting a budget on Tuesday.

To achieve this mission, the BMC has allocated a budget of ₹3,955.64 crore for its education sector for FY2025-26, up from ₹3,497.82 crore in 2024-25. This year, an allocation of ₹411.30 crore has been set aside for capital projects. Even though the education budget has risen by ₹457.82 crore compared to the previous financial year, the proportion allocated to education has decreased by 1.07 percentage points within the total BMC budget.

The BMC has allocated ₹12 crore for 'Mission Financial Literacy', marking another first, in the coming academic year for Classes 6 to 9. Students will be introduced to real-life concepts like budgeting, investment, insurance, loans, and interest through educational materials, site visits, and various training sessions.

To support STEM education, the BMC has declared a funding of ₹10 crore for robotics initiatives (STERM), further aiming to keep the curriculum contemporary. For this, the BMC intends to establish STERM labs to promote an interest in science and technology.

Furthermore, the BMC has decided to increase the reach of certain current schemes. This includes a gamified educational application for 32,659 students in Grades 8 and 9. The budget has allocated ₹7.23 crore for the construction of 112 computer labs.