The Education Of D'Angelo Russell

Last season, Nets team bus rides operated like NBA-business seminars. Professor Jared Dudley, the 12-year vet, would hold court, lecturing a young roster about everything from 401K plans to the impending free-agency market. When guard Spencer Dinwiddie was weighing a three-year, $34 million extension, the team talked through it together. (He accepted, against Dudley's advice.) "We were so open," Dudley says.

Often, the young player who sat right in front of Dudley would turn around and ask questions of his own. D'Angelo Russell was in the midst of a breakthrough season—and a free-agent one at that. He had the future on his mind.

If it were up to Russell, he would re-sign with Brooklyn on a nice, long deal. But it wasn't, not really, not when the Nets were showing interest in replacing him with Kyrie Irving, plus Kevin Durant.

And so Russell would ask Dudley about his options: "If Kyrie and KD come, how can this and that happen? What if I want to go there? Explain to me a sign-and-trade." Dudley, a mentor to many, was impressed. "Out of every young player I've been associated with," he says, "he asked the most questions."

At season's end, Russell entered an odd free-agency limbo. His fate was tied to Irving's, and he understood the Nets' priorities. "I know if you have the opportunity to sign KD and Kyrie, as a GM, you gotta gamble with that," he says. "You got to."

When Durant announced his decision, Russell's agent called, informing him the Warriors were ready to offer a max contract (four years, $117 million) via sign-and-trade. Russell had braced for the moment, and jumped at the opportunity. "I'm like, 'Why the fuck is you on the phone with me?!'" he says. "'Tell them yes!'"

Russell figured he was waltzing into a dynasty. Instead, the best team of last decade begins this one at the bottom of the Western Conference. On many nights, Russell goes it alone, with Klay Thompson (torn ACL) and Steph Curry (broken hand) sidelined and Draymond Green (various maladies) missing games as well. With Golden State some 20 games below .500—and questions about his fit alongside Curry and Thompson—Russell's name has been a popular one in trade fantasies. 

Those rumors have swirled since the night Russell's deal with Golden State went public. They are unrelenting. Some have him going to Minnesota to partner with his friend Karl-Anthony Towns. Others say Philadelphia for Ben Simmons, or anywhere, really—just pick a name out of the hat: 

Screen shot via Leo Sepkowitz

Still, Russell is intent on making his time with the Warriors—no matter the duration—worthwhile. He has spent his first months with Golden State probing the Hall of Fame-caliber players and thinkers that surround him. He's learning about shot selection from Curry; defensive rotations and intensity from Green; the art of simplicity from coach Steve Kerr. "I think that's a beautiful luxury to have," Russell says.

Golden State may not offer a chance to win a title this year, but there's no better place for Russell to continue his NBA education. "Whether it's me being here for a year or four years," he says, "I knew I'd learn what I needed to learn in that time, and I wasn't going to let that time be wasted."

So far, it's been a smooth transition back to California, where Russell spent his first two seasons (albeit a few hours south in Los Angeles). For one, he has escaped Northeast winters; he recently mentioned to the Star Tribune's Chris Hine, half-kidding, that the local weather played a "major part" in his free-agency move. There are other perks, too—namely a home on a quiet suburban road and a yard for his dogs, two Bernedoodles and a Boston terrier, the last of whom is running in frantic circles a few feet away. "The more dogs D'Angelo has, the happier he is," his older brother Antonio says.

That's why Russell is visiting the local pet adoption center, the SF SPCA, just before Christmas. In a few minutes, he'll gift puppies to two local families in need, and as he waits for the big reveal, he occasionally enters the puppy pen to converse and roll around with a miniature mutt whose paws are white with black spots and who will soon be named Oreo by Russell and four very happy, slightly overwhelmed children. A project like this has been a long time coming for Russell. Even as a sporty kid, he was an animal lover and dreamed of becoming a veterinarian.

"I've never met anyone who as a child wanted to be a veterinarian," Antonio says, still amused by the memory. "For him to say something like that, it was so different." Growing up, Russell liked to challenge himself intellectually. In high school, when most kids fulfilled their language credits by half-heartedly studying Spanish or French, Russell opted for Mandarin. (He still remembers some, which has come in handy lately. In November, he inked a sponsorship deal with Li-Ning, the China-based sportswear brand, succeeding Dwyane Wade as its top active star.)

Now 23, Russell is still searching for ways to expand his mind. This past Christmas, he requested one gift in particular from Antonio: books. Most of the reading material focused on personal development: Grit by Angela Duckworth, a San Francisco-based writer; The Alchemist; Jay-Z's Made in America.

"One of his biggest strengths is not being afraid to learn, to ask those questions," Antonio says. "He's unafraid to be curious."

He is also unafraid to answer questions, and to open up. "I'm addicted to showing people what they don't get to see, as far as the everyday lifestyle of an NBA player," he says.

It's possible that such a desire stems from the early part of Russell's career, when the public perception of him did not align with how he saw himself. He was labeled immature time and again, largely because of his infamous 2016 Snapchat gaffe. After the incident, many attacked Russell's character, including Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote, "The kid doesn't think," and, "You can't pass Russell the torch, because he will set something on fire, which is pretty much what happened with this video that recently appeared on a celebrity gossip site."

With a roster ravaged by injuries around him and his future with Golden State already a matter of conjecture, D'Angelo Russell has tried to soak up whatever teachings he can from Steve Kerr and the Warriors' sidelined stars.Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

The pile-on continued into 2017, when Magic Johnson questioned Russell's leadership after trading him to Brooklyn. "My narrative was created by the outsiders versus me," Russell says now.

Last year, when Russell and I spoke in Brooklyn during his first All-Star season, he still felt jaded about the business of the league, the way it's covered, produced and packaged. In Brooklyn, with free agency looming, his future remained uncertain despite his breakthrough. Indeed, through his first four seasons, Russell had seen an ugly version of the league, from a 65-loss season to over-the-top personal criticism.

I asked about his Twitter header at the time, which was a graphic cartoon commentary on media talking heads and gullible audiences. "There's so much meaning behind it," he said. "I've been through the blender."

He still carries some of that skepticism today; when asked whether he ever watches sports talk TV, he says, "No. There's always two people up there, and you notice one person is debating what's right and one is debating what's wrong."

That may never change, but Russell has. If in the past he was shaped or affected by outside noise, that seems no longer to be the case. Amid an odd, disappointing, chaotic season, Russell has exuded an admirable serenity. And though this year feels passing, random and even irrelevant in the grand scheme of the Warriors, Russell has found a sense of presence, of being where his feet are, as he likes to say. He has done this not by settling in at long last, or by trusting that San Francisco will be his forever home, but by embracing the very opposite: the fact that he may never settle at all, that his worst instincts about the league's cutthroat priorities are probably correct, but that it doesn't have to matter, doesn't have to bother him. Russell seems comfortable and secure within himself, and the odd bit of "barbershop talk," as he calls it, won't shake that.

Recently, he swapped out his old Twitter header for a more idyllic one: his own feet kicked up, overlooking a beach in Miami. Russell is mostly a minimalist on social media, so it's easy to read the switch as a message about his career—chiefly, that he plans to enjoy it.

"I'm happy with where I'm at, and I'm looking forward to building on it," he says. "I'm happy that I got an All-Star under my belt. I'm happy that I'm in a stable organization, happy that I got the contract that I wanted. So now I get to sit up with my feet up and when it's time to relax I can really relax, and when it's time to work I can work my tail off. That's what that stands for."

The Golden State dynasty may be on pause, but Russell's breakout rolls on. He is stacking one career best on top of another, averaging highs in points, threes and free throws per game. In the age of the guard as full-bore gunner, Russell's game is about control: a distinctly soft touch, patience and awareness in mid-range space, a knack for finding any runner near the rim. He is a modern NBA nightmare. 

The Warriors offense has been reinvented around him, though that's mostly out of desperation. Without Curry, Thompson or Durant, it hardly resembles the free-range juggernaut of years past, leaning more often on the pick-and-roll to wedge just a fraction of the space that used to come so easily. According to Synergy Sports, Russell has run some 42 percent of his possessions in the pick-and-roll, double Curry's rate from last year.

In other ways, Russell has tried to acclimate himself to what remains of Kerr's system. For instance, he's already attempted more shots running off back screens (53) than he did all of last year (51), per Synergy, and he's shooting them well.

"This whole year is kind of a test of seeing what's gonna fit, what's gonna make sense for next year," Russell says. "It's them kind of sitting back, seeing who I am as a teammate and a player, what I bring to the table."

So far, Russell's fellow Warriors have appreciated not just his go-to scoring, but his attitude as well. "He's positive, he's encouraging, just trying to bring everyone along with him," forward Marquese Chriss says. "We're not going through the best time right now, so it's good to have someone who is consistently happy and brings good energy."

"He's goofy," echoes center Willie Cauley-Stein. "He plays around a lot, but he's a professional. He sees the game different, so he's gonna let you know if he sees something that you might not see. He's a leader, man."

And he is here—for now.

Russell's desire is to remain in Golden State. During his trip to the postseason last year, he found an "addicting" level of intensity and focus, and he longs to feel it again. He grows giddy when considering the chance to compete alongside Curry, Thompson and Green—and perhaps a top draft pick. "I think it's gonna be crazy," Russell says of the team at full strength. "I don't think the world knows what we're capable of."

Of course, it's possible we'll never find out. That notion might spoil the journey for some—but not Russell, not after all he's seen and learned. No matter what comes next, he says, "I get to bottle all of this and take it with me. That's the beauty of the league."

George P. Bush: Better Education In Texas Means Flexibility And Teaching Critical Thinking

As our state begins a new year, we face a familiar challenge: How do we better prepare the next generation of Texas leaders?

As a former public school teacher, I think the answer to that question is found in our schools. The workers of tomorrow are being trained in the classrooms of today. So, are the leaders of tomorrow adequately prepared in our classrooms?

The Texas General Land Office is one of the largest financiers of public education in the state. As land commissioner and a former educator, I felt it was important to get an inside look at what our students are doing in the classroom, lend a helping hand, and speak with administrators and teachers. Too often, we strive to enhance education without understanding exactly where the need resides.

This past year, I decided to personally invest my time and energy in Texas students and schools. During the Texas General Land Office’s Year of Education, I visited with more than 80 administrators, 60 teachers and almost 4,000 students from across the state. I didn’t limit these visits to one region or one type of school. Rather, I visited educational environments of all types: public, private, charter, home-school, rural, urban and suburban.

For most of these lessons, I taught a class on Texas history featuring primary source material from the GLO archives, like a historic map of Texas. But what I found to be most rewarding were the moments not when I was talking, but when I was listening. And after hearing from so many administrators, teachers and students, some of the next steps our state needs to take in improving Texas education became clear.

Better education means a stronger emphasis on a flexible curriculum. We need to give schools and teachers the ability to find the sources and methods that work best for their kids. One size certainly does not fit all.

Better education means teaching critical thinking. With the age of artificial intelligence upon us, we need to ensure that our students are learning to think and ask the right questions. This requires a stronger emphasis on writing, reading and projects that require students to think hard and get to the bottom of tough questions.

Better education means a greater emphasis on vocational education. Not every child needs to go to college. The Texas economy of the future will undoubtedly require scientists and engineers, but it will also require carpenters, plumbers and electricians — jobs that require not college but training and that pay well, too.

Better education means more school choice. When we give parents a choice, we give kids a chance. Children should not be stuck in schools that don’t perform and won’t change. A ZIP code should not determine a child’s success in life.

But better education means focusing on models that work, like Dallas ISD. Schools that are implementing this model are quickly turning around, improving their ratings across the board. Thought leaders should seek to further explore models such as this, and act quickly to enact changes to improve failing school districts.

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And better education means doing more to teach the history of our great state. The leaders of Texas’ future must know the story of Texas’ past. When I visited classrooms last year, I took actual primary source material from our archives to teach the heroism of the Alamo defenders, including a cannonball fired at the Battle of the Alamo. It’s one thing to read a textbook; it’s another thing to hold a piece of Texas history in your hands. I saw the light in the eyes of so many young Texans as they learned about the Alamo by experiencing it.

This year at the General Land Office, we will continue to build on the Year of Education and continue distributing more money than ever before to public education. I call on our legislative leaders to enact common-sense, conservative reforms to make our schools better.

Far too often, decision-makers in Austin sit back and decide our children’s future without understanding the challenges faced by teachers and administrators each and every day. As a former teacher, I know that these heroes deserve our support. And I’ll continue to look for ways to help them succeed in the classroom. That’s what the Year of Education was all about — understanding what our future needs.

As Texas looks to the future, we must focus on improving and dedicating additional resources to education. That is an investment we can make today that will pay dividends for years to come.

George P. Bush is the Texas General Land Office commissioner. He wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.

New Zealand’s Daily Blog Demands Anti-immigrant Measures Against “Australians Fleeing Climate Change”

  New Zealand’s Daily Blog demands anti-immigrant measures against “Australians fleeing climate change” By John Braddock and Tom Peters15 January 2020

The Daily Blog, a prominent mouthpiece for New Zealand’s pseudo-left milieu and trade union bureaucracy, has responded to the catastrophic bushfires in nearby Australia with a reactionary tirade demanding extreme national-isolationist measures in New Zealand, enforced by a stronger military and attacks on democratic rights.

The January 3 statement by editor Martyn Bradbury, “What the Australian megafire means to us in NZ and why Fortress Aotearoa is simply a matter of time,” declared that NZ [Aotearoa] is about to be “swamped” by “Australians fleeing climate change” and must take drastic steps to avoid becoming an “Australian territory.”

There is nothing remotely left wing or progressive about the statement, which reflects the right-wing politics of the blog’s upper middle class supporters. It has the same aim as the hysterical anti-immigrant propaganda of governments around the world, including the Trump administration’s “America First” doctrine: to poison the political atmosphere and divide the working class on the basis of race and nationality, in order to derail rising opposition to social inequality, poverty and war.

The Daily Blog supports Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party-led government, which includes the anti-Asian NZ First Party, Labour’s main coalition partner. Bradbury recently praised NZ First cabinet minister Shane Jones as a “political genius” for his inflammatory comments demonising Indian immigrants.

Bradbury’s statement echoes the Christchurch terrorist’s fascist “manifesto.” Brenton Tarrant, who faces charges of killing 51 people in attacks on two mosques in March 2019, denounced non-white immigrants as “invaders” seeking to “replace” the local population and culture. Bradbury depicts Australians essentially as barbarians who will undermine New Zealand’s “culture” if allowed to enter in significant numbers.

All the establishment parties are complicit in whipping up the xenophobic political climate that fuelled the Christchurch atrocity. The Ardern government has slashed migrant numbers while making it harder to gain permanent residency. The trade unions constantly agitate for the government to go further and block “foreign workers” from entering the country.

Anti-Australianism has long been exploited by the unions to defend their collaboration with their “own” NZ employers by holding “hard-nosed” Australian banks and companies responsible for attacks on the working class.

The Daily Blog ’s bushfire statement contained not one word of sympathy for thousands of ordinary Australians facing dire circumstances, including overwhelmed volunteer firefighters. Raging infernos have destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of bush, hundreds of homes and even entire towns, threatening livelihoods and claiming two dozen lives.

Nor was there any political criticism of Australia’s ruling elite, personified by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who on January 2 was confronted by angry residents as he visited the fire-ravaged town of Cobargo. New Zealand’s government similarly escaped Bradbury’s ire. Ardern has sent just 180 firefighters across the Tasman to assist, followed by a contingent of the armed forces.

The omissions reflect the Daily Blog’s hostility towards the working class. Bradbury demagogically described Morrison as “a right wing fundamentalist Christian climate denying coal loving dick head.” But he similarly tarred the entire Australian population, ranting: “Australia treats us with contempt… How do you think they will treat us if they flee here on mass? [sic] Forget China and America having too much influence over us, it will be Australians fleeing climate change who will be the real problem.”

The Daily Blog is funded by the Unite union, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union and the Dairy Workers Union. Its regular contributors include Mike Treen, leader of Unite and a former leader of the Pabloite Socialist Action League; pro-Labour Party commentator Chris Trotter; ex-Greens MP Keith Locke and activist John Minto. Minto and Treen are former members of the Maori nationalist Mana Party, which has campaigned for restricting jobs to New Zealanders first and scapegoated Chinese people for the housing crisis and drugs trade. Unite and Mana have close connections with New Zealand’s pseudo-left groups, the International Socialist Organisation and Socialist Aotearoa.

All these individuals and organisations bear political responsibility for the chauvinist filth that the Daily Blog has been spewing out for years, especially its anti-Chinese xenophobia. The blog ludicrously depicts China as New Zealand’s economic “overlord” and portrays Chinese immigrants as a subversive threat. Despite occasional anti-American outbursts, it supports the Labour-NZ First government’s push to further integrate New Zealand into US war plans against China.

The Australian bushfires have now become the occasion for Bradbury to extend the blog’s chauvinism further. Instead of placing the blame for the climate crisis where it belongs, with the anarchic private profit system and rapacious global corporations, Bradbury rails against ordinary people who exhibit “the worst of human nature.”

Rejecting any socialist solution, Bradbury declares it is impossible to “plan for a pretend world of co-operation that will never exist.” He describes “Fortress Aotearoa” as “‬the only way forward” in a world “where the worst angels of our nature are unleashed.”

To implement this agenda, the Daily Blog calls for a “large scale increase in Army, Navy and Airforce.” Although Bradbury does not spell it out, a vastly expanded military would be used to guard the border and turn back migrants and suppress the inevitable opposition from working people in NZ. A quarter of New Zealanders are first generation immigrants, and about 600,000 New Zealanders live in Australia.

Bradbury advocates major attacks on democratic rights, including extending the current three-year parliamentary term to five years, to make it more difficult to remove unpopular governments. He proposes restricting voting to citizens only (currently recent immigrants are allowed to vote) and for parliament to be reconfigured to give a larger say to the Maori business elite.

Various euphemisms, including Bradbury’s description of anti-immigrant policies as “sustainable immigration,” and his calls to increase New Zealand’s extremely low refugee intake and increase social spending, cannot disguise the authoritarian and militarist character of his program.

The blog’s demands dovetail with the agenda of the Labour Party-NZ First-Greens government, which has pledged to spend $20 billion by 2030 to upgrade New Zealand’s military, including expanding the army from 4,500 to 6,000 soldiers. The government is also militarising the police, recruiting an extra 1,800 front-line officers.

As a minor imperialist power, New Zealand’s ruling class aims to cement its domination over several impoverished Pacific island nations, while strengthening its long-standing military and intelligence alliance with Washington as the latter threatens war against China, Russia and Iran.

The government and its backers, including the Daily Blog, also fear that soaring social inequality produced by its pro-business policies will unleash a mass working-class movement, similar to that in Chile, France and other countries, which the union bureaucracy will be unable to stop. The state is therefore preparing to violently suppress opposition—as it did during the great strike of 1913, the riots of the Great Depression, two World Wars, and the 1951 waterfront strike.

The middle class milieu that Bradbury speaks for has long espoused isolationist views, pretending that New Zealand is a haven of decency and “peace” at the bottom of the South Pacific that can cut itself off from the rest of the world. This is a reactionary utopian fantasy which, as the Daily Blog makes clear, can only be imposed with violent repression of the working class.

The climate crisis is a global issue which has no national solution. The Australian and New Zealand ruling elites, like those of every country, have no serious policies to address it because to do so would cut across the interests of the multi-billion dollar corporations, including New Zealand’s dairy exporters.

The only way to seriously address climate change, and put an end to social inequality and imperialist war, is through the abolition of the capitalist system and its division of the world into rival nation states. The world economy must be organised on a rational, scientific basis, in accordance with human need. This requires an international struggle for socialism, uniting workers who are, objectively, more globally connected than ever before, and share the same basic interests regardless of where they live. Such a movement can only be built in opposition to the right-wing politics of the Labour Party, the trade unions and all their nationalist allies, including the Daily Blog.

The author also recommends:

New Zealand Labour-aligned Daily Blog posts pro-war, anti-China tirade[20 July 2018]

New Zealand union shuts down bus drivers’ strike, scapegoats migrants for low wages[6 January 2019]

New Zealand: Unite union applauds ban on migrant workers at Burger King[15 September 2018]

Contribute to the fight for socialism in 2020

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The Rich Should Pay More' — Bill Gates Calls For Higher Taxes On The Wealthy In New Year's Eve Blog Post

                                       Bill gates

"I've been disproportionately rewarded for the work I've done," the billionaire Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist said in a blog post titled "What I'm thinking about this New Year's Eve."

"The rich should pay more than they currently do, and that includes Melinda and me," Gates added, referring to his wife, who with him founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"We've updated our tax system before to keep up with changing times, and we need to do it again, starting with raising taxes on people like me," he said. The taxes should be spent smartly to "build a healthier, more equitable world for all," he added.

Gates is worth about $113 billion, making him the world's second-richest person behind Amazon's Jeff Bezos, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Gates' arguments for higher taxes on the rich:

The US government needs to levy higher taxes to fulfill its obligations, as it collects about 20% of gross domestic product in taxes but spends about 24%.

Taxing and redistributing the proceeds could help narrow the wealth gap between the richest and poorest Americans, which has widened over the past half-century.

The government primarily taxes labor, but it should tax capital more. It earns about 75% of its revenue by taxing wages and salaries at up to 37%, while taxing investments - which generate the bulk of rich people's incomes - at 20% if they're held for more than a year.

"That's the clearest evidence I've seen that the system isn't fair," Gates wrote. "I don't see any reason to favor wealth over work the way we do today."

His proposals for overhauling the US tax system:

Estate taxes should be higher and inheritance loopholes should be closed. "A dynastic system where you can pass vast wealth along to your children is not good for anyone; the next generation doesn't end up with the same incentive to work hard and contribute to the economy," Gates said.

The cap on the amount of income subject to Medicare taxes should be removed.

The carried-interest loophole, which allows fund managers to pay lower capital gains rates on their incomes, should be closed.

Large fortunes should be taxed after about a decade as investments can escape taxes if they're not sold or traded.

State and local taxes should be fairer.

Gates tackled several common criticisms of higher taxes in his blog post too.

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Voluntary taxes

The Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway director addressed the frequent response to billionaires such as himself and Warren Buffett calling for higher taxes: They can pay more than required by law if they so wish.

"Simply leaving it up to people to give more than the government asks for is not a scalable solution," Gates said. "People pay taxes as an obligation of law and citizenship, not out of charity. Additional voluntary giving will never raise enough money for everything the government needs to do."

Philanthropy

Unsurprisingly, the world's best-known philanthropist defended private-sector giving.

"There's value to society in allowing the wealthy to put some money into private foundations, because foundations play an irreplaceable role that's distinct from what governments do well," Gates said.

He gave the example of high-risk initiatives, such as his foundation's experimentation with new ways to eradicate malaria.

"If a government tries an idea for improving global health that fails, someone wasn't doing their job," he said. "Whereas if we don't try some ideas that fail, we're not doing our jobs."

Enterprise

Finally, Gates addressed concerns that raising taxes would discourage entrepreneurship and innovation by cutting their rewards. He argued those weren't real worries at current tax rates.

"We shouldn't destroy those incentives, but we're a long way from that point now," he said. "Americans in the top 1% can afford to pay a lot more before they stop going to work or creating jobs."

Gates pointed out that higher taxes didn't dissuade him from founding and building a business.

"In the 1970s, when Paul Allen and I were starting Microsoft, marginal tax rates were almost twice the top rate today," he wrote. "It didn't hurt our incentive to build a great company."

Delhi Government To Pay Board Exam Fees Of NDMC, Delhi Cantonment Schools, Says Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI file)

The Delhi government will pay the board exam fees of schools under the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Delhi Cantonment, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Monday.

He said the decision was taken at a cabinet meeting held on the same day.

The government will also hold extra classes to focus on teaching mathematics, he said.

The government had earlier said it will pay the board exam fees of all government school students, following a hike in the fees by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

“It was decided that the Delhi government will bear the board examination fees of all the students belonging to the Delhi government schools. Now, the Delhi government schools situated in the NDMC and Delhi Cantonment areas are also included under the purview of this decision,” Kejriwal, who was earlier a council member of the civic body, said at a press conference.

This announcement comes ahead of the Delhi polls to be held early next year.

Sharing details, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the cabinet approved a revised budget of Rs 61.32 crore in order to provide complete subsidy towards CBSE examination fee of students of Class 10 and 12 of government schools and it will include migration fees, practical fees and all other fees.

In addition to the schools of the Directorate of Education (DoE) and those aided by it, the benefit of this decision extend to taken over schools and Patrachar Vidhyalaya (open schools) of DoE also, said Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s Education Minister.

This will benefit about 3.6 lakh students, he said.

The cabinet also approved the same benefits to about 4,000 students of schools run by the NDMC, Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) and Department of Social Welfare (DSW), he added.

Earlier, in September 2019, the Delhi Cabinet had approved waiver of examination fees charged by the CBSE from students of classes 10th and 12th and allocated the budget of Rs 57.20 crore.

“But Monday’s decision clarifies that all other costs like practical examinations fee and migration fee, etc too will be covered by the Delhi Government and the benefit will extend to students of taken over schools, Patrachar, NDMC, DCB and DSW also and the revised budget would be Rs 61.32 crore,” Sisodia said.

Kejriwal also said the government has analysed the results of all the subjects of Delhi government schools and found that students are scoring above 95 per cent in all subjects other than mathematics and science.

The results in these two subjects have gone down, with students scoring less than 76 per cent in mathematics.

“The Delhi government has decided to hold extra coaching classes in schools so that the results in the subjects in which the students are lagging behind can be brought on par with the scoring subjects.

“Extra coaching classes will also be held for students who have obtained compartment or have flunked in the board examinations,” he said.

In order to encourage students to become entrepreneurs rather than job-seekers, the government will give seed money of Rs 1,000 to promote entrepreneurial mindset amongst students, the chief minister said.

Students will carry out an entrepreneurship project either individually, or along with other fellow students under the guidance of their teachers while justifying and elaborating on the profit or the loss incurred on the project, he said.

“This initiative aims at building a thought process amongst the students on how to be entrepreneurs, rather than looking for jobs after their studies,” he added.

IFP-based Smart Classes And Panic Buttons Among New Technology At NDMC Schools

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: With more Interactive Flat Panel-based smart classes, Wi-Fi enabled classrooms and panic buttons, the New Delhi Municipal Council is looking to engage more technology in its primary, secondary, senior secondary and Navyug schools.

Last week the NDMC presented its budget for 2020-21 which was presented by newly appointed chairman Dharmendra.

Most major schemes and policies related to education introduced earlier got a further boost.

“Based on the feedback received from parents, proposal to introduce smart classes in primary sections of NDMC and Navyug schools last year was taken up. The process in this regard has already been initiated and the primary sections of NDMC and Navyug Schools will be equipped with the latest Interactive Flat Panel based Smart Classes in this academic session,” said an official.

The NDMC also will be introducing tablet-based Wi-Fi enabled classrooms this year which will be set up in each of secondary and senior secondary schools. For Wi-fi, fibre-based internet will be set up in all NDMC and Navyug schools.

Among other technology-related development in schools, NDMC plans to set four more Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) through the fund received from NITI Ayog which is under process and likely to be completed by March 2020.

Palika Tinkering labs will be set up in remaining 18 secondary and senior secondary NDMC and Navyug Schools.

To further augment the security of the campuses, NDMC proposed to install panic buttons in all NDMC schools along with CCTV cameras in open areas.

NDMC Plans Better Disaster Readiness

NEW DELHI: New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to come up with a comprehensive plan for disaster management in its area. The aim is to identify necessary measures to avoid loss of lives and property in case of any disaster.“We are eyeing a plan to understand the capacity to withstand disasters of all nature. A budget of Rs 10 crore for financial year 2020-21 has been approved for this purpose,” said NDMC chairman Dharmendra.The civic agency also aims to redevelop seven prominent roads, including KG Marg, Barakhamba Road, Sansad Marg, Janpath, Abdul Kalam Road, BKS Marg and Maulana Azad Road, under the Smart City plan. “They will have modern kiosks, street furniture, parking facilities, electric poles and seating plazas among other facilities,” said Dharmendra. The work will be taken up in 2020-21.NDMC also plans to provide seamless civic services to the citizens. “To entertain residents’ complaint we will develop artificial intelligence-based chatbot facility. From June 2020, it will enable citizens to get faster response to their queries 24X7,” said the chairman.NDMC is also working on a policy to finalise the rate charge at e- charging stations. “We aim to establish 100 fast e-charging stations this year,” said an NDMC official.The chairman has also proposed to provide financial assistance to RWAs and traders’ associations. “A sum of Rs 10 crore has been proposed for the year 2020-21 with an objective to provide scope for local initiatives and projects,” said the chairman. A digital gallery dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi is proposed to be established at Bapu Samaj Sewa Kendra at PK Road.E-office system will be integrated for maintaining file and records. “It will increase accountability of officials holding the files with them for long,” said Dharmendra. In the education sector, NDMC aims to install panic buttons in all schools in a couple of months. The civic agency also aims to reduce carbon footprints by ensuring “green waste disposal” methods.Multistorey complex to come up near Yashwant PlaceNew Delhi Municipal Council has prepared a plan to construct multistorey commercial complex at the vacant land between Akbar Bhawan and Satya Marg in Chanakyapuri area. The work at the complex, located next to Yashwant Place, will start soon.The complex will have four basements and 10 floors, and an amount of Rs 89 crore has been approved for it. The project was mentioned in the budget approved by the NDMC chairman on Friday for the next financial year. An official said the project was expected to complete in two years. “We aim to generate revenue by leasing out offices/commercial complexes. The basements will be for the parking purpose,” the official added.In Video:NDMC plans better disaster readiness