Union Budget 2023: Schools education gets INR 68804.85 crore; 38,800 teachers for Eklavya schools

According to the allocation made by the finance ministry, the department of school education and literacy has gone up by INR 5355.48 crore i.e. to INR 68804.85 crore.

Union Budget 2023-24: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has released the Education Budget 2023 today, i.e. February 1, 2023, in Parliament. While presenting the Budget 2023, the ministry has allocated INR 112899.47 crore to the two departments of the education ministry, up by over INR 8621.75 crore from the 2022-23 budget estimates. According to the allocation made by the finance ministry, the department of school education and literacy has gone up by INR 5355.48 crore i.e. to INR 68804.85 crore.

Union Budget 2023 Key Highlights

• Funds for Eklavya Model Residential Schools. Recruitment of 38,800 teachers and support staff for the 740 Ekalavya schools serving 3.5 lakh tribal students.
• Calling Union Budget 2023 blue print for India@100, Nirmala Sitharaman listed the seven priorities of the Union Budget 2023, i.e. Inclusive development, Reaching last mile, Infrastructure and investment, Unleashing potential, Green growth, Youth power, and Financial sector.
• Setting up of national digital libraries for children and adolescents. Establishment of Physical libraries at panchayat and ward levels.
• Provision of books in local languages and English to physical libraries by National Book Trust and Children's Book Trust.

Let’s take a look at the proposed expenditure of the Ministry for 2023-24 for the education sector, precisely for the department of school education and literacy:

In 2023-24, the Department of School Education and Literacy has been allocated INR 68804.85 crore, accounting for 60% of the Ministry’s total allocation. The Department of Higher Education has been allocated INR 44094.62 crore, accounting for 40% of the Ministry’s total allocation.

*All figures in crores

Department	2022-23  Actuals	2023-23
School Education & Literacy	63449.37	68804.85
Higher Education	40828.35	44094.62
Total	104,277.72	112899.47

 Major heads of expenditure under the Department of School Education and Literacy in 2022-23

Expenditure Head	Allocation (All figures in Crore)
Samagra Shiksha	37453.47
Autonomous Bodies (including Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS))	14391.36
Total Centrally Sponsored Schemes (including mid-day meals, now known as Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN))	54010.47

Along with other sectors, education industry went through a massive destruction as well as reconstruction in last three years. The COVID-19 pandemic recorded a shift of offline education system to digitization. With a boom in edtech sector, the education budget crossed INR 1 lakh crore last year.

The Budget session 2023 began yesterday and the first part will conclude on February 13. The Parliament will reconvene on March 12 for the second part of the Budget Session that will conclude on April 6.

Although the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) recommends 6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product to Education Budget 2023, the sector has only touched nearly 3 percent as of 2022-23. Last year, the total education budget 2023 allocation for the two departments of the education ministry -school and higher education - was INR 1,04,277.72 crore, a 11.85% increase.

Read More: