The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is currently presenting the Union Budget 2023 in Parliament. Under education-related announcements, the finance minister announced that to address learning loss incurred during the pandemic years, a national digital library for children and adolescents will be set up for facilitating the availability of quality books across geographies, languages, and genres.
The capital investment outlay will be increased by 33 percent to Rs 10 lakh crores will take the capex budget ratio to 3.3 percent of the total GDP. 50-year interest-free loan to states will continue. PM Aawaas Yojana’s outlay increased by 66 percent to Rs 79,000 crore.
100 labs for developing apps using 5G services will be set up in engineering institutions. These labs will cover among others, apps like Smart Classrooms, Precision Farming, Intelligent & Transports Systems: FM Nirmala Sitharaman.
Sitharaman also announced that teachers’ training will be re-envisioned through innovative pedagogy, curriculum transaction, continuous professional development dipstick survey, and ICT implementation. To boost medical education, 157 new nursing colleges will be established and new programs will be introduced for training in medical equipment.
In the next 3 years, the Centre will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for the 740 models Eklavya Model Residential Schools which are serving 3.5 lakhs, tribal students. National Book Trust and Children’s Book Trust will provide books in local languages and English to the physical libraries.
That apart, three Centres of Excellence for artificial intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions. “Leading industry players will partner in conducting interdisciplinary research, develop cutting edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health, sustainable cities,” she said.
PMKVY 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youths within the next 3 years, Sitharaman announced, adding 30 skill India international centers across states.
A National Digital Library for children and adolescents will be set up for facilitating the availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres, and levels and device-agnostic accessibility. States will be encouraged to set up physical libraries, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
To provide stipend support to 47 lakh youths in 3 years, a direct benefit transfer under a pan-India national apprenticeship promotion scheme will be rolled out. Budget 2023 adopts 7 priorities: 1 Inclusive development, Reaching the last mile, Infrastructure & investment, unleashing potential, Green growth, Youth Power, Financial Sector,
Facilities in select ICMR labs to be made available for research by public and private medical college faculty, and private sector research teams for encouraging collaborative research and innovation: FM Nirmala Sitharaman.
Three centers of excellence in Artificial Intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions. Leading industry players will partner in conducting interdisciplinary research, and develop cutting-edge applications and salable problem solutions in the areas of health, agriculture, and sustainable cities.
“Economic agenda for our vision focuses on 1) facilitating opportunities for citizens, 2) providing strong impetus to growth and job creation and 3) strengthening macroeconomic stability”– FM Sitharaman in her budget speech.
Courtesy The New Indian Express
