Education Budget of India 2023 Updates, FM Nirmala Sitharaman Speech: The Education Ministry’s budget allocation this year increased by a marginal 8 per cent from Rs 1.12 lakh crore as opposed to 1.04 lakh crore in 2022-23. Of this, the Department of School Education is expected to get Rs 68,804 crore and Department of Higher Education Rs 44,094 crore.
Interestingly, the Ministry’s biggest school education scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, has been allocated almost the same amount as last year — Rs 37,453 crore compared to Rs 37,383 crore (budget estimate) in 2022-23. This is when students and teachers are still trying to recover the learning losses incurred during the pandemic.
During her budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a national digital library for children and adolescents. A similar initiative was also announced in 2018 by the then Education Minister Prakash Javadekar. Since then, a national digital library is being run by IIT Kharagpur. It’s not clear how the finance minister’s announcement is different from what’s already in place.
Sitharaman also announced that teachers’ training will be re-envisioned through innovative pedagogy, curriculum transaction, continuous professional development dipstick survey and ICT implementation. To boost medical education, 157 new nursing colleges will be established and new programmes will be introduced for training in medical equipment.
In the next three years, Centre will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for the 740 model Eklavya Model Residential Schools, which are serving 3.5 lakh tribal students. That apart, three Centres of Excellence for artificial intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions. “Leading industry players will partner in conducting interdisciplinary research, develop cutting edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health, sustainable cities,” she said.
Budget allocation for financial year 2023-24 for the World Bank aided Scheme of STARS has increased by Rs. 250.00 crore (45.45 per cent) from Rs. 550.00 cr in budget estimate 2022-23 to Rs. 800.00 crore in budget estimate 2023-24.
Allocation in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has increased by Rs. 713.98 crore (9.33 per cent) (from Rs.7650.00 crore in budget estimate 2022-23 to Rs. 8363.98 crore in budget estimate 2023-24) and in Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti by 1371.50 cr (33.32 per cent) (from Rs.4115.00cr in budget estimate 2022-23 to Rs. 5486.50 cr in budget estimat 2023-24).
IIT Madras to receive a grant of Rs 242 crore to undertake research on Lab Grown Diamonds (LGD). The institute will receive this grant over a period of five years to undertake research on lab grown diamonds (LGD). This research will be focused on driving indigenisation of the LGD manufacturing process. Read full report on indianexpress.com
Dr Mousumi Bhattacharya, Associate Professor of IIM Shillong said, “it is the last full Union Budget of the government before the next Lok Sabha election in 2024 where an attempt was made to address the concerns of the majority of the sectors with a special focus on green growth as India is shifting toward net zero carbon emissions by 2070. The budget will not only ensure self-reliance but also lay the path for sustainable growth of the Indian economy.”
The education budget 2023-24 will help realise the objectives defined in the National Education Policy 2020. The new education policy lays a greater focus on skilling the youth of the country and linking education with industry and professional spheres, so as to enable students to be ready for future challenges and opportunities. The budget announcements have come as a boost to materialise these ideas.
— BHU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sudhir Kumar Jain
“Giving a boost to education, skill development, entrepreneurship, R&D, digital infrastructure, green growth and job creation, the Budget draws a meticulous blueprint for India at 100 and lays a solid foundation for transforming India into a technology-driven knowledge-based economy,” said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The emphasis on education and employment is progressive. To ensure that India’s workforce is future-ready, new age courses such as coding, artificial intelligence, robotics, mechatronics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing drones etc. coupled with soft skills will help improve the overall employability of students.
Since the pandemic, the education ecosystem has seen major transformation, and now with the introduction of 30 Skill India international centers, education will further witness the much needed skilling integration that was required. The government’s focus on skill development and preparing students for the future is also evident through the initiative to open 100 labs in engineering institutes for building 5G service capabilities and augmenting the digital infrastructure for medical sciences, among other similar initiatives.
The budget also addresses education from a more holistic perspective, by introducing innovative pedagogies and advanced training and research measures for teachers.
— M. D. Venkatesh, Vice Chancellor of MAHE Manipal
With India becoming the fifth largest economy in the world, it lays a robust foundation for future growth, allowing bright and deserving students to dream big and pursue international education. However, it would have been ideal if the government could reduce the interest rates on education loans as Indians are the largest population who study abroad.
— Piyush Kumar, Regional Director- South Asia and Mauritius of IDP Education
Union Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan said that this has been the highest-ever allocation of ₹1,12,899 crore for the education sector. Total allocation of ₹1,16,417crore for the education and skill development sector in Union Budget 2023-24. The budgetary allocation witnessed the jump of 13% (over revised estimates) which is 13,018.34 cr from financial year 2022-23. The Department of School Education has been allocated Rs 68,804 crore and Department of Higher Education gets Rs 44,094 crore.
“Union Budget 2023 is a holistic foundation for India of the future with an overall boost to education, skilling, job creation and entrepreneurship. The thrust on building digital and public infrastructure with a keen focus on sustainability, is a shot in the arm for education and entrepreneurship. The vision of creating Centres of Excellences in AI, national skill set centers and the boost to learn and adopt new age educational courses will definitely go a long way in filling skill and employability gaps. New initiatives like the National Digital Library for children and adolescents will herald a new era in community participation ably supported and guided by Higher Education Institutes like IIMs. This indeed is a solid blueprint laid out for India@2047, when independent India turns 100,” said Professor Debashis Chatterjee, Director IIM Kozhikode
“The revamped Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana is a step in the right direction as it aims to impart new-age skills such as AI, robotics and 3D printing, offering young Indians a wide range of career opportunities globally,” said Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, India and APAC, Coursera.
“Overall, this budget is progressive as it accelerates the government’s efforts for inclusive and sustainable development, and we are pleased that the Government has recognized the importance of a Technology-driven and skill-enhanced economy. It provides a strong impetus for growth and job creation. The National Digital Library for children, initiated by the honourable Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, is a testament to the government’s commitment to modernizing and advancing the economy. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into our lives, the skill enhancement initiative recognizes its significance as a necessary tool for future growth and success,” said Physicswallah
“Giving a boost to education, skill development, entrepreneurship, R&D, digital infrastructure, green growth and job creation, the Budget draws a meticulous blueprint for India at100 and lays a solid foundation for transforming India into a technology-driven knowledge-based economy,” said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
“While focusing on the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors, the Government has emphasized fostering ease of doing business, inclusive growth, research & innovation, and AI-based Solutions. The tax proposals and fiscal management approach laid out in the Union Budget 2023 will help attain the twin goals of reducing compliance and enhancing investor protection for a socially inclusive and economically sound nation,” CS Manish Gupta, President, the ICSI said.
Allocation for higher education increased by 7.9% from Rs 40,828 crore (Budget Estimate) in 2022-23 to Rs 44,094 crore in 2023-24
— 157 new nursing colleges to be established
— 38,800 teachers, support staff recruitment for 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools.
— Three new centres of excellence for AI in top educational institutions.
— Ministry of Education allocated Rs 1.12 lakh crore budget
While no new major sector-specific scheme was announced, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said a National Digital Library will be set up for “children and adolescents.” However, no funds have been allocated for the library project in the 2023-24 budget and the National Digital University project, which was announced in 2022, also saw no separate allocation. Incidentally, the Centre had in 2016 launched the National Digital Library (NDL) pilot project under which IIT Kharagpur runs an online repository of texts and video lectures on various subjects ranging from humanities to sciences.
Read Sourav Roy Barman’s report on the education budget.
The government today announced that the Children’s Book Trust and other sources will be encouraged to provide books and other material in regional languages. However, when it comes to the engineering sector, I am not in favour of this as this will create complete chaos in the system and negatively affect our USP in engineering education. In hard times like these, we need more unifying factors, rather than those that divide us.
— Former IIT Director
The outlay for PM Poshan has been increased by 13.3%, taking the allocation to Rs 11,600 crore from Rs 10,233 crore. While no new major sector-specific scheme was announced, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said a National Digital Library will be set up for “children and adolescents” to provide a supply of good quality books at a time when students are trying to cope with the learning losses suffered during the pandemic.
This budget brings cheer to the teaching community as they will undergo training through innovative teaching methods, curriculum transformation, continuous professional development, and the implementation of ICT. The establishment of an additional 30 Skill India International Centers, offering cutting-edge programs in fields such as coding, AI, IOT, mechatronics, drones, and the enhancement of various soft skills, as announced in this budget, is a phenomenal initiative. The budget as a whole is a positive step towards the growth and advancement of vocational education within the education sector.
The plan of increasing medical colleges number and nursing colleges number is not really required at present. There are lot of medical and nursing colleges at the moment and instead of spending money there, we should enrich and empower the existing medical colleges. There should be major vacancy in government sectors for doctors and nurses. We require good teachers in already established medical colleges to get better doctors. Just spending money on buildings of medical colleges and not hiring professional is a wasteful activity,” says Rohan Krishan, President, FAIMA. Union Budget to be presented today at 11 am in Parliament. (Graphics by Angshuman Maity)
The stakeholders in the education sector are expecting an increase in funds for research and development, alongwith more budgetary allocation for modern and state-of-the-art tools and equipment.
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