Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023 in Parliament on February 1. In the Union Budget 2023, the education sector received its highest-ever allocation of INR 1.12 lakh crore. School education funding has increased by 8%, from INR 63,449 crore in 2022-23 to INR 68,804 crore in 2023-24. The Budget 2023 has taken further steps to in the growth, equality, and inclusivity of education in India. The following are 5 major changes mentioned in the Education Budget 2023.
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Budget 2023: Major Focus Areas in India’s Education Sector
- National Digital Library
According to the Union Budget 2023, A National Digital Library will be developed for Children and Adolescents. The digital library will facilitate access to high-quality literature at all levels, genres, and languages, as well as in all locations and device types. Physical libraries will also be encouraged to be established at the Panchayat level in the states so that children have the infrastructure to access the National Digital Library resources.
- Eklavya Model Residential Schools
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech, said that “the Centre will recruit 38,000 teachers and support staff for the 740 model Eklavya Model Residential Schools serving 3.4 lakh tribal students in the next 3 years to boost education for tribal students.”
- District Institutes of Education and Training
Nirmala Sitharaman stated that “teacher training would be redesigned to promote continuous professional development and innovative pedagogy. The government will redefine teacher training through innovative pedagogy, curricular transactions, continual professional development, dipstick surveys, and ICT implementation. Furthermore, District Institutes of Education and Training will be transformed into vibrant centres of excellence.”
- Make AI in India
In her speech, Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned that three Artificial Intelligence Centres of Excellence (CoE) will be established in top educational institutions to promote ‘Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India’. The finance minister also added that “Leading industry players will partner in conducting interdisciplinary research, developing cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of Agriculture, Health and sustainable cities. This will galvanize an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in the field.”
- The National Book Trust and Children’s Book Trust
The finance minister also urged to encourage the National Book Trust and Children’s book trust to provide non-curricular titles in regional languages and English to the physical libraries. To further promote financial literacy, regulators and organizations in the financial industry will be insisted to give age-appropriate reading materials to these libraries
The Union Budget 2023 has introduced major changes that can be proven revolutionary for the future of education in India. The closure of schools due to the pandemic has caused the loss of substantial years of education. So, the reimagination of the current education scenario was essential to keep up with the rapidly changing world. The steps announced in the Budget 2023 will be effective for the growth of India.
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Key Highlights on Education Budget
- ₹68,804.85 crore has been allocated for schools and ₹44,094.62 crore for higher education.While the school Budget has witnessed an increase of 8%, from ₹63,449 crore (Budget estimate) in 2022-23, the allocation for higher education increased by 7.9%, from ₹40,828 crore (Budget estimate) in 2022-23. The revised allocation for the school and higher education departments was kept at ₹59,052.78 crore and ₹40,828.35, respectively, in 2022-23.
- The outlay for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the central government’s flagship programme for universal education, remained almost the same as last year ( ₹37,453.46 crore).
- The midday meal scheme, renamed as PM Poshan, saw an increase in allocation — from ₹10,233 crore in 2022-23 to ₹11,600 crore in 2023-24. However, the allocation for the scheme was increased to ₹12,800 in the revised Budget.
- The Budget has also set aside ₹4,000 crore for the government’s Pradhan Mantri Schools For Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme, under which over 14,500 schools across the country will be upgraded as exemplary schools.
- In higher education, the allocation of grants to central universities has risen to ₹11,528.90 crore from the revised estimate of ₹11,034.32 crore last year. While the monetary support to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has increased by ₹316.5 crore, it has decreased in case of Indian Institutes of Managements (IIMs) by around ₹300 crore in comparison to last year.
- The outlay for research and innovation has been pegged at ₹210.61 in 2023-24 in comparison to ₹218.66 crore in 2022-23. The revised allocation decreased to ₹185.24 crore in 2021-22.
- The Budget document does not mention the allocation for Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA). HEFA offers 10-year loans to higher education institutions for infrastructure development. The Budget for the agency was drastically trimmed to ₹1 lakh in 2022-23 from ₹1 crore in 2021-22.
Source – hindustantimes
