In keeping with its emphasis on higher education, the government has increased the overall plan expenditure for the sector by Rs2,000 crore compared to last time.
In the Union budget 2009-10, the human resource development ministry has been provided Rs36,400 crore, of which Rs26,800 crore is for school education and Rs9,600 crore for higher education.
In a major boost to technical education, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has allocated Rs2,113 crore for the expansion and infrastructural development of the IITs and National Institutes of Technology (NIT) based on the oversight committee’s recommendations for the implementation of 27% reservation for OBC students. The figure includes Rs450 crore for the setting up of new IITs and NITs.
To enable students from poor families to pursue courses in technical and professional streams, the government has decided to write off the entire interest accrued on educational loans during the study period. This means banks can start charging interest only after studies are over. About five lakh individuals are expected to benefit from this plan.
A special provision of Rs495 crore has been made for upgrading polytechnics and for the setting up of new ones under the National Skill Development Mission. And for opening central universities in states that do not have any, Rs827 crore has been allocated.
Provision for the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology has been substantially increased to Rs900 crore to provide computers and broadband connectivity to teachers and students.
For primary and inclusive education, an outlay of Rs13,100 crore has been set aside for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rs8,000 crore for the Mid-Day Meal scheme — two flagship programmes of the government. To meet the growth in demand for secondary education, the government has formulated the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, for which Rs1,353 crore has been approved. Also, a provision of Rs350 crore has been made towards schemes for the setting up of 6,000 model schools at the block level as benchmarks of excellence.
Announcing a special package for Punjab University, Chandigarh, Mukherjee said: “The Union territory of Chandigarh is the capital of Punjab and Haryana. The facilities at Punjab University, Chandigarh, need to be improved. I, therefore, propose to make an allocation of Rs50 crore for this university.”
On modernising employmentexchanges, Mukherjee said the labour ministry plans to create anational web-based system on the lines of naukri.com and monster.com. Instead of confining the database of jobseekers to government and the public sector, the portal will be accessible to the private sector as well to allow better placement of jobseekers.
“(The portal) will contain all the data regarding availability of skilled persons on the one hand and requirements of skilled persons by the industry on the other,” Mukherjee said. “It will help youth get placed and enable industry to procure required skills on real time basis.”
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