Uniforms, school bags, AI labs, and a bus that brings science to the classroom — Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, rolled out one of the municipal school system's most comprehensive single-day education packages under the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan.

₹70.69 crore reaches families directly — no middleman

At the heart of the announcement: ₹70.69 crore transferred via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to cover uniforms and school bags for more than 5 lakh children enrolled in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools. The DBT route — a mechanism the Central government scaled nationally from 2013 to cut leakages in welfare delivery — means the money lands directly in parents' bank accounts rather than travelling through a chain of intermediaries.

Gupta framed the move as a fulfilment of a universal parental aspiration, saying the government is 'providing good education, modern facilities, and every possible opportunity for children to move ahead' — translating the Hindi: 'हर माता-पिता का सपना होता है कि उनका बच्चा उनसे भी आगे बढ़े' ('Every parent dreams that their child goes further than them').

AI labs, a Science bus, and 1,500 printers for MCD classrooms

Alongside the cash transfer, Gupta launched a suite of infrastructure upgrades: 10 AI and Robotics Labs, 1,500 printers, a 'Science on Wheels' mobile science unit, and 60 Chromebooks. The package layers digital hardware onto an existing welfare baseline — a pattern that has defined Delhi's municipal education spending across recent budget cycles, combining direct entitlements with incremental technology infusion.

The 'Science on Wheels' unit is especially notable for MCD schools, which serve predominantly low-income neighbourhoods where laboratory infrastructure has historically been sparse. A bus that brings experiments to students bridges a gap that static school budgets rarely close.

Cabinet colleagues and civic leadership at the launch

The event drew senior government and civic figures: Cabinet Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Mayor Pravesh Wahi, and Deputy Mayor Monika Pant were all present, signalling cross-institutional alignment between the Delhi government and the MCD on the education agenda.

Their attendance underlines that the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan is being positioned not merely as a welfare disbursement but as a shared governance statement — the kind of visible, deliverable-heavy event that the BJP administration in Delhi has been keen to stage as it deepens its footprint in municipal affairs following the MCD elections.

With the AI and robotics labs now launched at 10 schools, the question is whether the next municipal fiscal cycle will carry supplementary provisions to extend the same digital infrastructure to the hundreds of MCD schools still waiting their turn.