Budget 2016: Government recognizes role of private sector in education, says Experts

Increased focus on quality and access has been the underlying theme for the education and skill development sector in this year's budget, say domain experts, hailing all big ticket announcements made by finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday.

The FM listed education among the '9 pillars' for this year's Budget which is expected to give a stimulus to the otherwise sluggish sector. In education, he focused more on higher education as against the previous year's tradition when school education remained at centre, say professors.

Jaitley's announcement in the budget that 10 public and private institutions each would be developed as world-class teaching institutions is being hailed by academics across India.

"The budget stresses on the importance of teaching, besides seeking to recognize the role of private players in most sectors including education. This is clearly a shift from the left-leaning policy and moving towards private-public partnership," says Dr Abhay Pethe, professor of Economics at Mumbai University.

Giving 7.5 out of 10 to Jaitley, Pethe says that this year's budget has a well-defined framework and is more pragmatic in approach. The agency would support infrastructure development in the campuses for which an allocation of Rs1,000 crore has also been declared.

"A dedicated financial agency for the higher education is a welcome step. I hope it would benefit both the students as well as the educational institutions," said Dr Suhas Pednekar, principal of Ruia College.

While National Vocational Education Qualification Network already exists since many years, to boost up Make in India mission, the government has taken some more concrete steps. Setting up of 1,500 Multi-Skill Training Institutes across the country is expected to give required impetus in the manufacturing sector which often complains about inadequate skilled workforce.

Jaitley announced that the government aims to skill over one crore youths in the next three years. Besides, setting up of 2,200 entrepreneurship centres with 300 being set up schools and 500 at Industrial Training Institutes in the remotest parts of the country is expected to bring out more talents.