Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ lauded the Union Budget 2021-22 and expressed his gratitude to Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman for giving a major boost to education.
Shri Pokhriyal highlighted that the Budget allocation for the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS), has been substantially increased from Rs. 175 Cr to Rs. 500 Cr in next FY 2021-22 for providing post-education apprenticeship, training of graduates and diploma holders in Engineering.He also said that an outlay of Rs. 50,000 Cr over next 5 years for National Research Foundation (NRF) will give a major boost to Innovation and R&D.
The Minister said in a big boost to education sector allocation of KVS has increased by Rs 362.32 crore and allocation of NVS increased to Rs. 320 crore w.r.t. RE 2020-21. The budget allocation of NCERT increased to Rs.110.08 crore from RE 2020-21.
Highlights of Budget 2021-22 –Department of Higher Education
1. In this FY 2020-21, the BE was Rs. 39466.52 Cr, which has been rationalised to Rs. 32900 Cr, due to Covid-19. BE for the next year 2021-22 has been kept at Rs. 38350.65 Cr, which is more than 5450.65 Cr more than the current year RE.
2. Out of the Total BE of Rs. 38350.65 Cr, Provisions for Establishment, Autonomous Bodies(ABs), and Schemes are as below:
(i)Establishment: Rs. 247.44 Cr
(ii)Autonomous Bodies(ABs): 29023.78 Cr
(iii) Schemes Total: Rs. 9069.43 Cr
(a)Centrally Sponsored Schemes: Rs. 3000 Cr [RUSA]
(b)Central Sector Schemes: Rs. 6069.43 Cr
3. In our flagship scheme RashtriyaUchchatarShikshaAbhiyan (RUSA), a budget provision of Rs. 3000 Cr has been kept for the next FY 2021-22, in comparison to Rs. 300 Cr in current year.
4. Budget allocation for the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS), has been substantially increased from Rs. 175 Cr to Rs. 500 Cr in next FY 2021-22 for providing post-education apprenticeship, training of graduates and diploma holders in Engineering.
5. Some New Initiatives like- Opening of BhartiyaBhasa University & Institute of Translation, Indian Knowledge System, Academic Bank of Credit, PM e-Vidya, Multidisciplinary Education and Research Improvement in Technical Education (MERITE) shall be implemented in line with the NEP recommendations, after approval of the competent authority. At present a Token Provision has been kept in the BE of FY 2021-22 for all the above initiatives.
Budget Announcements:
1. Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) -an Umbrella Body, which will have 4 verticals- Accreditation, Standard Setting, Regulation, and Funding. Legislation for HECI will be introduced this year.
2. In 9 cities where there are number of institutions supported by the GoI (like- Hyderabad etc.) we will create a formal umbrella structure– for better synergy, while retaining their internal autonomy.
3. A new Central University(CU) will be set up in Leh.
4. We will realign the existing scheme of National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) for providing post-education apprenticeship, training of graduates and diploma holders in Engineering. Over Rs. 3,000 crores will be provided for this in next 5 years.
5. For promotion of Innovation and R&D, an outlay of Rs. 50,000 Cr over next 5 years has been kept for National Research Foundation (NRF). Its major beneficiaries will be Higher Education Institutions including CFTIs like- IITs/IISc/IISERs/NITs etc.
Highlights of Budget 2021-22 – Department of School Education & Literacy
1. Budget allocation for BE 2020-21 was Rs 59845 crore which was rationalized to Rs 52189.07 crore in RE 2020-21 post covid-19 situation. This has now increased to Rs 54873 crore in BE2021-22.
2. There has been an overall increase of Rs. 2684.59 crore (5.14%) in Budget allocation of Department of School Education & Literacy in BE 2021-22 from RE 2020-21.
3. The overall Budget allocation in BE 2021-22 is Rs. 54873.66 crore out of which scheme allocation is 43648.66 crore and non-scheme allocation is Rs. 11225.00 crore. The scheme allocation has been increased by Rs 1895.08 crore and non-scheme allocation by Rs. 789.51 crore as compared to RE 2020-21.
4. Budget allocation in the Flagship scheme of SamagraShikhsa has been increased to Rs. 31050.16 crore in BE 2021-22 from Rs. 27957.32 crore in RE 2020-21 by Rs. 3092.84 crore i.e. increased by 11.06% in comparison to RE 2020-21).
5. The budget allocation in PadhnaLikhnaAbhiyan (PLA) is also increased from Rs. 95.25 crore (RE 2020-21) to Rs. 250 crore in BE 2021-22 (an increase of Rs. 154.75 crore) i.e. by 162.47%.