This budget allocation of Rs 1.48 lakh crore for education and skilling along with digital learning will help build a robust, future-ready workforce

Union Minister for Education  Dharmendra Pradhan hailed the 2024-25 budget as a pivotal milestone on India’s path to becoming a developed nation by 2047. Prioritising education, skilling, employment generation, research and innovation like never before, #Budget for Viksit Bharat paves the way for strengthening Bharat’s credentials …..”

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan posted on X. He noted that these are comprehensive and concrete measures taken up by Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman that will be a win-win for all stakeholders—students, academia, and industry.  

The budget allocation for Education, employment, and skilling has been increased by 30% to Rs 1.48 lakh crore.    India has the largest educational system with 265 million students in schools, 43 million in higher education and more than 10 million learners enrolled in skilling institutions. The Budget Allocation for 2024-25 of Rs 73,498 crores is the highest ever for the Department of School Education & Literacy.  Autonomous bodies such as the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti have also received their highest-ever allocations. The  Flagship Schemes like Samagra Shiksha, POSHAN  and PM-SHRI have got Rs 3,250 crores. The budget includes strengthening the skilling and apprenticeship ecosystem, skill development and internship opportunities for one crore youth by India’s top companies, and providing employment-linked incentives to first-time employees across the sector. The government has introduced a revamped ‘Model Skill Loans Scheme’ from 1.5 lahks to 7.5 lahks to 25000 students annually and education loans up to 10 lahks for pursuing education in higher domestic educational institutions to one lakh students every year with an annual interest subvention of 3%.  The step will certainly promote enrolment in domestic institutions as well as reduce the financial burden on the students.  In addition to this, the finance minister also outlined several initiatives for the Skill Development sector.

These include the upgrading of 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in line with the skill requirements of the industry. The internship opportunities for one crore youth in 5 years by the government is a welcoming step, this will provide youths with an engagement and enhance employability and practical skills.

In the scheme ‘National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS)’, an allocation of Rs 600 crore has been made.There has been an overall increase of Rs. 3525.15 crore (7.99%) in the budget allocation of the Department of Higher Education in this budget. 

Deemed Universities, IITs  NITs, IISERs, and IISc have got hefty allocations, considerably high in comparison to the previous budget. In higher education, areas like Digital e-learning, Research and Innovation, teacher training, the Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence and some specific institutions have received higher allocations. Under Digital e-learning, the government is looking forward to tapping the potential of virtual learning and aligning it with the Academic Bank of Credits with the view of increasing portability and flexible study options.

In the scheme ‘National Mission in Education through ICT’, an allocation of ?480 crore has been made in  2024-25 and this is  ? 80 crore more than the allocation in 2023-24.The increased budget for Research and Innovation is to focus on academic and research collaborations in science, engineering and technical education. To improve the quality of education being imparted at the school level it requires a revamped pedagogical structure, so, the Teacher Training segment has got its due share.  The scheme ‘Establishment of 3 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has got an allocation of ? 255 crore in the budget. The  Major Schemes For Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) erstwhile known as Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)], the budget has been kept at  Rs1814.94 crore An allocation of Rs 1800 crore has been allocated for Institutions of Eminence. In the scheme ‘Multi disciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education EAP (MERITE)’, an allocation of Rs 200 crore has been made and this is a 100% increase over the last year's budget.

The NEP 2020 says that the aim of the policy must be for India to have an education system by 2040 with equitable access to the highest-quality education for all learners regardless of social or economic background. Recognising the crucial role of education the government has designed an ambitious package for education for it to be growth-oriented, inclusive and progressive. However, the most important aspect is its implementation. The features of the budget meant for education will play a crucial role in guiding India towards becoming a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 as stated by the Education Minister.

(The writer is an educationist and a freelance writer; views expressed are personal)