New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has approved the 'Mukhyamantri Digital Shiksha Yojana', a scheme that will offer free laptops to 1,200 top-performing students from government schools entering Class 11. The decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday. The government also announced financial incentives of ₹5 lakh for school-level athletes and ₹20 lakh annually for elite sportspersons.

Education and Sports Minister Ashish Sood stated that the government has earmarked a budget of around ₹7.5 crore for this initiative. He explained that the scheme aims to support meritorious students who are set to choose different academic streams in Class 11.

Sood highlighted that this initiative had been earlier announced during the Delhi government’s budget speech. The scheme will be implemented starting from the 2025-26 academic session and will continue on an annual basis.

The Minister said this scheme is in line with the government's commitment to promote digital literacy and empower students with modern devices.

With an eye on increasing digital literacy among students, the Cabinet has approved the scheme to set up computer labs with digital infrastructure in government schools, Sood said.

Under the first phase of this scheme (year 2025-26), 175 computer labs will be set up. After this, 175 more labs will be set up in the second phase (year 2026-27). The remaining schools will be included in the upcoming phases, he said.

A total of 544 schools have been selected in 350 school buildings on a priority basis. In this, priority has been given to those schools where different schools run in the morning and evening shifts in the same building, he said.

A budget of ₹50 crore has been set for this scheme, and 40 desktop computers and other related digital resources will be provided in each lab.

For this, a project monitoring unit has been formed, which will monitor the entire process, Sood said.

The minister also announced financial support for student athletes. He said that “school students who play sports at the state and national level will be awarded an incentive amount of ₹5 lakh from 6th to 12th standard, for coaching and training. Elite sportspersons who play at the national and international level will be awarded ₹20 lakh every year.”

(with inputs from IANS)