While announcing the Union Budget 2019-20, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal emphasized improving the quality of education as part of the 10 dimensions of vision 2030, “On the social infrastructure side, every family will have a roof on its head and will live in a healthy, clean and wholesome environment. We will also build quality, a science-oriented educational system with Institutes of Excellence providing leadership at the top,” he said.
He also mentioned Artificial Intelligence, he said. “Nine priority areas have been identified. A National Artificial Intelligence portal will also be developed soon,” he said. There was no announcement for allocation of budget for that.
He adds that the government has allocated ₹93,848 crore for the education sector, which is 3% of the total budget estimated. It has been a ₹10,000 crore hike from the allocated budget to the education sector last year. Last year, the allocation was ₹83,626, out of which the expenditure was only ₹80,215. The allocation for Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) has been reduced from Rs 2,750 crore last year to Rs 2,100 crore this year. The actual expenditure by HEFA last year was just Rs 250 crore.
For the consideration, Here’s the list of all the schemes and announcements NDA Govt. made from 2014-19.
- India as early years, will now participate in Programme for International Student Assessment in 202, it got rejected in the last few years due to their depleting performance and was obligated to participate. PISA is a test for secondary school students from across 80 countries for evaluating education system of the country.
- The government also finalized learning for each class in Languages (Hindi, English, and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science up to the Elementary stage, as promised in 2017.
- In 2014, the government announced the “Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya New Teachers Training Programme” on December 25, 2015, to enhance teacher’s training and motivate teachers. The Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development has also launched Diksha Portal for making their teaching practices more digital and promote Digitalised education. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has established a four-year integrated professional B.Ed course. An Integrated Teacher Education programme has also been established to enhance specialization for elementary, secondary, art education and physical education streams.
- In 2014, the government announced the setting up of virtual classrooms. The SWAYAM online course also imparted great success. The committee has been set up, by the Department of Higher Education, to support “Operation Digital Board” in all schools and to provide quality education.
- In the past four years seven IITs, seven IIMs, fourteen IIITs, 15 AIIMS, one NIT, and four NIDs have been set up. Allocation of budget to the IITs have increased by more than 60 percent since the budget 2014 allocation of Rs 3,896 crore. The allocations for the Indian Institutes of Management have increased from Rs 275 crore in 2014 to Rs 1036 crore in 2018. The allocations for the National Institute of Technology grew by 90 percent between 2014 and 2017, compared to just 23 percent between 2010 and 2013. The Allocation of the budget in 2014 was Rs 1,067 crore and now in the current budget of 2018, the allocation has reached Rs 1,144 crore, marking a rise of only about 7 percent.
- Last year, The University Grants Commission headed under the HRD Ministry granted autonomy to 60 higher educational institutions.
- In 2016, the government set up HEFA, as a non-banking financial company with Canara Bank as its partner-Rs 250 crores from government and Rs 50 crore from Canara bank for the purpose of generating money through market borrowing and lending them to government institutions as interest-free loans.
- The Government last year also announced six Universities being the ‘Institute of Excellence’.
- In 2015, the government promised a student financial aid authority to monitor all scholarship and educational loan schemes. On August 15, 2015, the Vidya Lakshmi Portal was launched for inviting banks for educational loans and also with links to National e-Scholarship Portal.
- The Government also launched ”Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF)” Scheme to facilitate 1,000 best B.Tech students each year from prestigious institutions and provide them facilities to do Ph.D. in IITs and IISc.
- To Launch investments in the field of research and related infrastructure in premier educational institutions, including health institutions, the government has decided to establish ”Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) initiative by 2022. In order to improve the infrastructure of the higher education institutions, HEFA provided funds to more than 10 educational institutions. In July 2018, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal for expanding the scope of Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) by providing a fund of ₹10000 crores.
- In 2016, the government launched 62 new Navodaya Vidyalayas. The HRD Minister also announced an increase of 5000 seats of intake in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) for the Academic Year 2019-20.
- The Union Cabinet, on October 27, 2016, approved the setting up of the National Academic Depository (NAD)-a digital depository for setting up School Leaving Certificates, College Degrees, Academic Awards, and Mark sheets.
- The Government also set up the National Testing Agency (NTA) as an organization to conduct tests all across the country.
- In 2014, the government promised toilets and drinking water in all the girls’ school. Kerala, Punjab, and Sikkim saw 100 percent toilet coverage in rural schools.
- In 2017, the government proposed that 62 new Navodaya Vidyalayas would be opened.
- In 2018, the government proposed setting up of an Ekalavya Model Residential School by 2022 at every block with more than 50 percent ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, having special facilities and preserving local art and culture besides providing training in sports and skill development.
- The National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI), deemed university in Vadodara, has been set up where103 students from 20 states joined as the first batch. It is India’s first railway university.
- Two agriculture universities have been set up in Jhansi and Imphal. Two horticulture universities have been set up in Haryana) and Telangana.
- The National Sports University has been set up in Manipur.
- In 2014, the government announced that Jai Prakash Narayan National Centre for Excellence in Humanities would be set up in Madhya Pradesh. It is yet to be built.
- The National Centre for Excellence in Animation, Gaming and Special Effects to be set up in Mumbai, the government has already allocated 20 acres for the same.