Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 19 (PTI) The revised Kerala Budget 2026-27 presented in the Assembly on Friday noted that youth in the state were migrating in search of education and employment, leading to a decline in the southern state’s demographic dividend and announced steps to revitalise the education sector and create more jobs for the younger generation.
In his Budget speech, Chief Minister V D Satheesan said that the youth population, which constitutes the state’s demographic dividend, was steadily declining as a proportion of the total population.
“Simultaneously, our youth are migrating to foreign countries in search of employment. Instead of letting our youth migrate out of sheer necessity, we must provide them with quality education and employment opportunities here, integrating them as active partners in the state’s development to bolster our economy,” he said.
One step in that direction will be the establishment of the ‘Global Job Watch Tower’ — a state-level future skills and employment intelligence mission — which will equip the youth for the rapidly evolving global economy, he said.
It will also closely align the state’s education and skill-development ecosystems with future employment landscapes, he added.
Satheesan, who also holds the Finance portfolio, further said that the mission will track emerging employment trends globally and domestically, identify requisite future skills, provide strategic guidelines for curriculum overhauls, and strengthen industry-academia partnerships.
He said that it will place a special emphasis on Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital technologies, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, the green economy, logistics, tourism, and international labour markets and allocated Rs two crore for the preliminary phase of the project.
In order to transform Kerala into a premier destination for higher education and reverse the ongoing trend of students migrating outside the state for high quality learning, the ‘Kerala Knowledge Valley’ will be established, he said.
The CM said that under the initiative, the state will be transformed into a world-class higher education hub, which will bring together the most contemporary academic programmes, state-of-the-art research parks, and dynamic centers of excellence under one umbrella.
“Guided by a specialised legislative framework, this educational metropolis will be designed to attract leading universities — dominating both global and national rankings — as well as world-renowned legacy universities,” he said.
He said that the Kerala Knowledge Valley will create a vibrant and self-sustaining ecosystem where students can access worldclass opportunities in the state itself, elevating it into the “intellectual capital of Asia”.
“To facilitate this, timely amendments to the Private University Bill will be implemented on a war footing. An amount of Rs 100 crore is allocated for this project,” the CM said.
In addition to these, the Budget also announced a Wayanad Tribal University and Indigenous Knowledge Zone aimed at promoting educational advancement, research, innovation, and socio-economic transformation and allocated Rs 50 crore for it.
A Culinary Institute will also be set up in the state, for which Rs two crore has been allocated, to introduce Kerala’s unique culinary art and taste to the world, Satheesan said.
The institute will also provide training and education in culinary arts, bakery, hotel management, food production, and food safety, he said.
Besides these, a ‘Future Readiness Think Tank’ will be constituted to anticipate and utilise the opportunities offered by advanced technologies including AI, Quantum Computing and Biotechnology and the ‘Semester in Kerala’ programme, which provides opportunities for foreign students to study in the state, will be revived to strengthen academic tourism, he said.
He also announced an allocation of Rs 232.11 crore for Technical Education.
The Budget also outlined steps to prevent ragging, campus violence and political interference in higher educational institutions.
“An Academic Council will be constituted to prevent excessive political interference in academic matters,” it said. PTI HMP KH
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