Provisions For Education In Union Budget 2022

The Union Budget of India for the year 2022 was announced yesterday, 1st February 2021. Although the budget has left most of the sectors in awe, there are some interesting reveals as well. The education sector has been allocated a budget of INR 1,04,278 crore. Although this year’s education budget is higher than last year’s, the question remains, is that sufficient to meet the demands of the present infrastructure. Here are the highlights of education in Union Budget 2022:

The Budget Allocation

The Finance Ministry has allocated the overall budget in two major areas of pedagogy, the Department of School Education and Literacy and the Department of Higher Education. The Department of School Education and Literacy has been allocated INR 63,449.37 crore with INR 51,052.37 crores for Scheme allocation and INR 12,397 crores for Non-scheme allocation. The Department of Higher Education is allocated an overall revenue of INR 40,810.34 with INR 7454.97 for Scheme allocation and INR 33,373.38 crores for Non-scheme allocation.

Major plans for education

For the first time, a budget of more than 1 trillion has been allocated to the education sector. The major plans and programs included in the Union budget are for digital education, job creation, vocational education, specialized learning, e-learning in regional languages, and the mental health of students. Under each of these areas, the major plans are:

For the expansion, exposure of digital education and reduce the digital divide in India, the following measures have been announced:

• A digital university in regional languages is proposed to be set up with quality learning and personalized experience with ISTE standards.
• For the school kids, a One-class-one-TV channel will be started to impart supplementary education for classes Nursery to 12th. The program of the PM eVIDYA scheme will be further progressed from 12 channels to 200 channels to ensure all states have access to supplementary education in their regional languages. 
• The infrastructure of education in villages is aimed to improve with the Vibrant Villages Programme which will provide DTH access to the villages near the northern borders. 

For vocational education, skill development, and job creation, the Union budget have suggested the following provisions: 

• The skill hub initiative to provide certified skill courses will be introduced in 5000 skill centers within the next year. 
• Along the same, 750 virtual labs will be established in mathematics & science and 75 virtual labs for simulated learning.
• DESH-Stack e-portal will be started for the skilling of the youth along with trusted credentials to find a relevant job and entrepreneurial opportunities.
• Startups will be supported to facilitate the ‘Drone Shakti’ scheme which will create better employment opportunities. 

For improving the mental health of students, the following measures have been considered:

• The National Tele Mental Health program will include a cluster of 23 telephonic mental health centers for which the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences will be the nodal center and IIIT Bangalore will support the program technologically.

The education budget of this fiscal year has given high hopes for the education sector. Although, the implementation and operation of the same cannot be confirmed unless it is done. Last year, a budget of INR 93,000 crore was announced but the revised estimate shows that INR 88,002 crore was spent on the same. So, the question of this repeating again is still significant. 

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