New Delhi: The education ministry was allocated Rs 1,12,899.47 crore in Budget 2023-24 – an increase of over Rs 8,600 crore over last year’s budget.
Skill education was the highlight of this year’s skill development and education budget, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing the launch of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 4.0 to skill lakhs of youth within the next three years.
The FM said that the youth will be trained in new age skills like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Mechatronics and Robotics. He linked skill development to the new National Education Policy (NEP), saying it would help in ‘skill development’.nectar generationMake their dreams come true.
“To empower our youth and help nectar generation To make their dreams come true, we have formulated a National Education Policy, focused on skilling, adopted economic policies that facilitate large-scale employment generation, and support business opportunities,” he said. said during his budget speech.
Talking about the expansion of PMKVY, he said, “The emphasis will be on on-the-job training, industry partnership and alignment of courses with industry needs. The scheme will focus on coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IoT It will also cover new age courses like digital printing, 3D printing, drones and soft skills.30 Skill India International Centers will be set up in different states to skill the youth for international opportunities.
Meanwhile, he also announced setting up of three AI centers in existing educational institutions to enhance the technology.
To realize the vision of “Make AI in India and Make AI work for India”, three Centers of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions. Leading industry players will partner to conduct interdisciplinary research, develop cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health and sustainable cities. This will propel an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in the sector,” Sitharaman said in her budget speech.
He also said that 30 Skill India International Centers will be set up in different states to skill the youth for international opportunities.
AK Srikanth, CEO of KLAY, a chain of pre-schools and daycares, said, “GST on education is still an important concern which was not discussed by the finance minister.”
However, he stressed on the skill education initiative of the government. “One of the primary focus of elementary education should also be on skill-based education which should be adopted by primary schools. In the last few years, there has been an increase in the need for skill-based jobs in India, therefore, in the next three years by the government The move to implement Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 is also a great step to bridge this gap.
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Higher Education and School Education Allocation
The education ministry was allocated a budget of Rs 1,04,278 crore for the 2022-23 financial year, which is Rs 11,054 crore more than the budget for 2021-22. Last year’s budget mainly focused on digital education and was marked by announcement A Digital University, which is yet to become functional.
This year, of the total allocation of Rs 1,12,899.47 crore, the higher education sector has received Rs 44,094.62 crore, marginally higher than last year’s Rs 40,828.35 crore.
The Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) – which was established as an agency to provide interest-free loans to colleges and universities – has not been allocated a budget this year. The budget has been reduced to zero in 2023-24 from last year’s 0.01 crore.
The school education department, which is always allocated more than higher education, got a budget of Rs 68,804.85, a marginal increase from last year’s Rs 63,449.37.
New launched PM-Shri Schools, which are considered to be schools of excellence in various states, have received funding of Rs 4,000 crore.
with new NEP Being implemented in a phased manner, stakeholders in the education sector were expecting that this year’s budget would have provisions for its implementation. However, there are no specific provisions regarding the policy made in the budget.
skill development budget
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has received a total budget of Rs 3,517.31 crore, which is higher than last year’s Rs 2,999 crore. PMKVY scheme will be implemented by the Ministry of Skill Development.
Of the total Rs 3,517.31 crore, most – Rs 2,278.37 crore – has been allocated for the Skill India programme. Even though PMKVY 4.0 has been announced in this year’s budget, no allocation has been made for it so far.
Aman Mittal, Vice President, Lovely Professional University, said, “The new initiative named ‘Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0’ is going to provide the basic skills required not only for the youth of India but for the entire industry.”
(Editing by Zinnia Ray Chowdhury)
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