New Delhi: The Delhi government will pay the examination fee charged by the CBSE from students in its schools from next year, officials said. The announcement was made Saturday by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at an event held to celebrate the good show by Class XII students in the board examinations. "Access to high-quality education is the right of all children. Education cannot be a matter of charity. The government will pay the exam fee of students. Soon, the government will arrange coaching for the NEET and JEE aspirants," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said. He said the scholarship for the students scoring 80 per cent or above had been increased to Rs 2,500 and the rider on family income was being removed. The government had organised a felicitation ceremony for students and their parents at the Thyagaraj stadium here. Around 1,000 students and their families were in attendance, along with their teachers and principals. Kejriwal addressed the gathering, congratulating the students, their teachers and parents.

"I am happy to share that over 1,000 children from Delhi's government schools have scored more than 90 per cent marks. I feel immense pride that government schools have a pass percentage of 94, beating private schools for the fourth time in a row,"he said. Kejriwal said when he took the charge of the Delhi CM, people used to request him to get their children admitted to private schools. "Today, a majority of requests I receive are for admission to government schools. Earlier children had inferiority complex about studying in government schools. Today, they are proud of government schools," said Kejriwal. "Manish I came from the same background as you. We are not politicians. It is our dream that every child born in this country must get high-quality education, regardless of their financial background," he said, adding that in the past 70 years a system had developed where the poor sent their children to government schools while the rich to private ones.