Five new IITs and five IIMs are the major highlights in the education sector even as the focus is also on skill development with the NDA Government’s motto of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas.
While the new IITs would come up in Jammu, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Goa and Andhra Pradesh, IIMs would be established in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Maharashtra and Odisha. A provision of Rs 500 crore has been made for the new IITs and IIMs in the Budget.
Setting up virtual classrooms and Massive Open Online Courses have also been planned for which a provision of Rs 100 crore has been made, besides a national e-library which will be a repository for all educational resources. The Budget has also proposed the setting up of lok Nayak Jai Prakash National Centre for Excellence in Humanities in Madhya Pradesh — a first of its kind initiative.
Jaitley’s Budget also has provisions for madarsa modernisation with an additional amount of Rs 100 crore to enable 10 lakh Muslim children in getting national standards education certified through the National Institute of Open Schooling.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani in her reactions said the Budget 2014 has many aspects which would promote education in the country and has specially focused on education of girl child which is one of the major priorities of this Government.
In particular, the Plan Budget of Higher Education has been considerably increased in 2014-15. In the School Education and literacy sector also, the increase has been substantial. Overall, the Budget of the HRD Ministry (Plan & Non-Plan), of both the Departments of Higher Education and Department of School Education & literacy taken together, will witness an increase of 12.3 per cent from Rs 74,621 crores in RE 2013-14 to Rs 83,771 crores.
The Budget also highlights the resolve to provide the residual one lakh girls toilets and drinking water facilities in schools which will benefit 100 lakh girls in the first phase. This would enable girls to not only enrol in schools but also stay in schools. When girls get the needed sanitation facilities in schools, they would demand similar facilities at home, leading to a cleaner India.
The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme announced in the Budget would not only improve the adverse sex ratio but also ensure that girls are educated. The Budget has emphasised on gender mainstreaming. The school curriculum will have a separate chapter on gender mainstreaming. This will sensitise students, teachers and the community at large to be more sensitive to the needs of girl child and women and will promote growth of a more harmonious society. This will benefit all girls in the country.
Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya’s Teacher Training Programme has been provided Rs 500 crore in the Budget to enable the Government to better train students who aspire to become teachers in our professional colleges. The Budget has announced support to States to set up 15 Braille presses.
Jaitley also allocated Rs 28,635 crore for SSA and Rs 4,966 crore for RMSA to strengthen the elementary and secondary school infrastructure in the country which will improve access and quality of education across the school sector and will benefit nearly 23 crore children in schools.