Union Budget 2022-23 has been announced today at the Parliament by union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s second budget amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The Union Budget focused on providing access to education to students considering the effect it had on education especially in rural India.
The education sector has been allocated a budget of Rs 104278 crore for the Financial Year 2022-23 which is an increase of 11.19 per cent from Rs 93224 crore in FY 2021-22. However, the education sector only constitutes 9.76 per cent of the total Union Budget 2022-23 whereas, in Union Budget 2021-22, it constituted 11.09 per cent.
The key highlights of the Education Sector are as follows:
- ‘One class, one TV channel’ program of PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels. According to the government this will enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1 to 12.
- Digital University to be developed and launched with an aim to provide access to world class quality education to the students and a focus on ICT using hub and spoke mode.
- Skilling programs will be reoriented. For skilling, upskilling & reskilling of our youth, Digital DESH e-portal will be launched. Select ITIs to offer courses in skilling.
- Quality e content to be made through various means. Teachers to be trained to use better e-teaching outcomes.
- 5 Centres of Excellence to be set with an endowment fund of Rs. 250 crore each for Urban Planning courses that would assist in Urban Sector Development
- Academic Institutes to be encourages and supported for Research and Development within the ambit of Defence Budget.
- Agriculture University syllabus would be revised to accommodate the need of natural, zero-budget and organic farming and modern-day agriculture.
It is pertinent to note that for Gujarat especially in the GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) world-class education will be soon viable. “A world-class university will be allowed in GIFT IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) free from domestic regulation. International arbitration centre will also be set up in GIFT city to provide faster dispute resolution,” said Sitharaman.
It is a developing story and will be updated.
