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Budget 2023: Modi govt puts focus on upgrading skills & tech, 3 new AI centres to come up

Education Ministry has been allocated Rs 1,12,899.47 cr — up by 8% from last yr — and FM has announced launch of PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 to skill lakhs of youth within next 3 yrs.

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New Delhi: The Education Ministry was allocated Rs 1,12,899.47 crore in Budget 2023-24 — an increase of over Rs 8,600 crore compared to last year’s budget.

Skill education was the highlight of this year’s skill development and education budget, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing the launch of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 4.0 to skill lakhs of youth within the next three years.

The FM said that youth will be trained in new age skills like artificial intelligence (AI), mechatronics and robotics, among others. She also linked skill development to the new National Education Policy (NEP) saying that it will help the ‘amrit peedhi’ realise their dreams.

“To empower our youth and help the amrit peedhi realise their dreams, we have formulated the National Education Policy, focused on skilling, adopted economic policies that facilitate job creation at scale, and have supported business opportunities,” she said during her budget speech.

Talking about the expansion of PMKVY, she added “On-job training, industry partnership, and alignment of courses with needs of industry will be emphasised. The scheme will also cover new age courses for Industry 4.0 like coding, AI, robotics, mechatronics, IOT, 3D printing, drones, and soft skills. To skill youth for international opportunities, 30 Skill India International Centres will be set up across different states.”

Meanwhile, she also announced the setting up of three AI centers in existing educational institutions to scale up technology.

“To realise the vision of ‘Make AI in India and Make AI work for India’, 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, and sustainable cities. This will galvanise an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in the field,” Sitharaman said in her budget speech.

She also added that 30 skill India International Centers will be set up across different states to skill youth for international opportunities.

“The GST on education is still a vital concern which was not discussed by the finance minister,” said A.K. Srikanth, CEO at KLAY, a chain of preschools and daycares.

He, however, placed emphasis on the skill education initiative of the government. “One of the primary focuses of early education should also be on skill-based learning which should be adopted by primary schools. In the past few years, the need for skill-based jobs have increased in India, hence the move by the government to implement Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 in the next three years is also a great move to bridge the gap,” he added.


Also read: Indian companies want green-skilled professionals. But education system is yet to catch up


Higher education & school education allocations

The Education Ministry was allotted a budget of Rs 1,04,278 crore for the 2022-23 financial year, an increase of Rs 11,054 crore from the 2021-22 budget. Last year’s budget focused mainly on digital education and was marked by the announcement of a Digital University, which is yet to be functional.

This year, of the total Rs 1,12,899.47 crore allocation, the higher education sector has received Rs 44,094.62 crore, rising marginally from last year’s Rs 40,828.35 crore.

Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) — which was set up as an agency to give interest-free loans to colleges and universities — has been allotted no budget this year. From last year’s 0.01 crore, the budget has been reduced to nil in 2023-24.

The school education department, which is always allocated more than higher education, has received a budget of Rs 68,804.85 crore, a marginal jump from last year’s Rs 63,449.37 crore.

The newly launched PM-SHRI schools, which are supposed to be schools of excellence in different states, have received a funding of Rs 4,000 crore.

With the new NEP being implemented in a phased manner, stakeholders in the education sector were expecting this year’s budget to have provisions for its implementation. However, there are no specific provisions with respect to the policy made in the budget.

Skill development budget

The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship has received a total budget of Rs 3,517.31 crore — up from last year’s Rs 2,999 crore. The PMKVY scheme will be implemented by the ministry of skill development.

Of the total Rs 3,517.31 crore, the majority — Rs 2,278.37 crore — has been allocated to the Skill India program. Even as the PMKVY 4.0 has been announced in this year’s budget, no allocation has been made for the same so far.

“The new initiative named ‘Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0’ is going to not only provide the basic skills required by the youth of India, but also to the entire Industry,” said Aman Mittal, Vice- President, Lovely Professional University.

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)


Also read: What Economic Survey says about education: Decline in dropout rate, improved gender parity


 

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