New Delhi, Sep 6 (FN Bureau) Delhi government to provide Rs 2,000 as seed money to children studying in 11th standard at government schools as an aid to start their own business, Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Monday. The seed amount would be provided to the talented students from September 7 onwards as a motivation to become entrepreneurs, he added. Sisodia said that it’s the next step to the Entrepreneurship Curriculum the Delhi government had launched two years ago with the aim that no child should be clearing school as a job seeker but rather be a job provider. “The motive was to imbibe in children the belief that whatever job they do should be done with an entrepreneurship mindset.
A seed money amount of Rs 1000 was offered to students at the beginning for them to use their entrepreneurship skills and earn more from that amount, which is now increased to Rs 2,000,” he said. The project will be implemented in all schools from Tuesday, he added. Sisodia, who is also the Deputy CM of Delhi, said that many children have used the curriculum and the seed money to their benefit. “Thousands of rupees are given to the children so that they can start their own business,” he added. The minister informed that a 12th-pass student has created her own accounting company and has employed 20 people in her firm with an annual turnover of 15 lakhs, while another student started making masks when the Covid-19 pandemic started. The Aam Aadmi Party government had also initiated a pilot project for entrepreneurship in a school in Khichdipur.
“41 children of the same school started seed money investment by forming 9 groups for each project. All of them are running in group profit. Children made profits in the work of refurbished mobile phones, in the work of printing, in the work of handicraft jewellery,” Sisodia said. “In this experiment, it has been proved in just 6 weeks that children of government schools can become successful businessmen,” he added. The Delhi government is confident that its project could turn out as a game-changer in alleviating unemployment in the country. “This is important because in our country, the solution to unemployment is found politically. If the solution to unemployment is to be found, then this (project) has to be taken forward,” he said.