What the Budget means for the Education sector

The Union Budget may have proved dull for certain sectors, but it was quite vibrant for the education sector. It saw an 18% increase on the education budget to Rs 61, 407 crore for the fiscal starting April 1, 2012. Some of the steps including the raise of 21% financial budgeting for promoting and executing Right to Education is worth appreciation.

Last year the financial allocation for higher education was around Rs 13,103 crore which has leaped to Rs 15,43803 crore this year. The budget also allocated Rs 800 crore for providing an interest subsidy to students for providing study loans whose family income is less than Rs 4.5 lakh.

A sum of Rs 25,555 crore has also been kept aside for the implementation of Right to Education (RTE) Act for the compulsory education of all children between 6-14 age group. However, the requirement for this is Rs 10,000 crore more than the proposed amount. The other important step taken by the government is Rs 11,937 crore for mid-day meals as it attracts more children and hence helps in promoting education.

For Secondary education Rs. 3,124 crore is left aside under which 6,000 model schools, including 2,500 in collaboration with the private sector, during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) will begin in April. Pranab Mukherjee, the union finance minister said that government wants to open two credit-guarantee funds. The first one facilitating hassle-free loans for poor students wanting to pursue higher education and the other for equipping students with job skills. It also proposed a total outlay of Rs. 1,000 crore for the National Skill Development Fund for bridging the education-employability as students graduating from colleges are not considered job-ready by the employers. Read More...

In addition to these the government also made quite a few promises including the free cycles for girl students from minority communities while keeping Rs 4.5 crore aside for the scheme aimed at checking school dropout rates. Another scheme called the Skill Development Initiatives was started with allocated finances worth Rs.18 crore in the budget 2012-13. With Rs.3.135 crore has been set aside for the welfare of minority communities in India.

This budget closely focused on scholarships, whether prematric, post-matric or other fellowships. Provision for pre-matric scholarship was increased to Rs 810 crore and post-matric scholarship to Rs 450 crore. The merit-cum-means scholarship scheme has received Rs 198 crore as against Rs 126 crore previously. The Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students has also been enhanced to Rs 63 crore from Rs 47 crore.Read More...

 

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