Education sector gets 24 pc hike in budgetary allocation

Updated on: Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Education sector got 24 per cent hike in budget allocation for the next fiscal at Rs 52,057 crore to take forward programmes like universalising secondary education and increasing enrolment ratio in higher education.

Noting that the existing operational norms of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) have been revised to implement the right of children to free and compulsory education, he said Rs 21,000 crore will be allocated for SSA which is 40 per cent higher than the Rs 15,000 crore allocated in 2010-11 Budget.

He also said a revised Centrally Sponsored Scheme "Vocationalisation of Secondary Education" will be implemented from 2011-12 to improve the employability of our youth.

SC and ST students who till now only had access to post matric scholarships, will now get assistance at the pre-matric level too. It would benefit about 40 lakh Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students, he said.

He said the ambitious National Knowledge Network (NKN) will link 1,500 Institutes of Higher Learning and Research through an optical fibre backbone by 2012. During the current year, 190 institutes will be connected to this network.

Stating that the Government has been providing special grants to recognise excellence in universities and academic institutions, Mukherjee said in his Budget speech that Rs 50 crore each to upcoming centres of Aligarh Muslim University at Murshidabad in West Bengal and Malappuram in Kerala.

Rs 100 crore was alloted as one-time grant to Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University at Pookode.

He also said that Rs 200 crore will be given as one time grant to IIT, Kharagpur and Rs 20 crore for IIM, Kolkata, to set up its financial research and trading laboratory.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also proposed Rs 10 crore each for setting up Kolkata and Allahabad Centres of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha and Rs 20 crore for Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development in Sriperumbudur im Tamil Nadu.

Mukherjee also announced allocation of Rs 200 crore for Maulana Azad Education Foundation, Rs 10 crore for Centre for Development Economics and Ratan Tata Library, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi and Rs 10 crore for Madras School of Economics.

Underlining the government's skill development intiative, the Finance minister proposed an additional Rs 500 crore to the National Skill Development Fund during the next year.The National Skill Development Council (NSDC) is well on course to achieve its mandate of creation of 15 crore skilled workforce two years ahead of 2022, the stipulated target year.

Education sector gets 24 pc hike in budgetary allocation

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