The Centre has proposed to set up five IITs and as many IIMs in the country to give a boost to education sector for which Rs 68,728 crore has been allocated in the 2014-15 general budget, a hike of 11 per cent over the last fiscal.
“Five new Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campuses will be set in Jammu, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala while the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) campuses will be set up in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra,” said finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech, proposing Rs 500 crore for the purpose.
The move would end a long standing demand of these states and ensure that most of them have one of these prestigious institutes.
Setting up of an IIT entails an investment of roughly Rs 1,800 crore while an IIM requires around Rs 1,200 crore.
To infuse new training tools and motivate teachers, Jaitley also proposed to launch ‘Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya New Teachers Training Programme’.
He also proposed to set up a Jai Prakash Narayan National Centre for Excellence in Humanities in Madhya Pradesh.
The education sector this year got a plan outlay of Rs 68,728 crore, an 11.10 per cent jump as compared to the revised plan outlay of Rs 61,857 crore in the last fiscal.
The hike is 12.3 percent when both plan and non-plan expenditure is taken into account.
Out of the total plan outlay this year, department of school education and literacy has got Rs 51,828 crore and higher education has been allocated Rs 16,900 crore.
Stating that elementary education was one of the major priorities of the government, Jaitley said his “government would strive to provide toilets and drinking water in all the girls school in first phase”.
He proposed Rs 28,635 crore for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rs 4,966 crore for Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
Besides, he announced launching of a School Assessment Programme which would be initiated at a cost of Rs 30 crore.
Hailing the allocation for the education sector, Union HRD minister Smriti Irani said the emphasis on girl child education in the budget in particular was noteworthy.
“The Budget highlights the resolve to construct one lakh toilets and drinking water facilities in schools for girls. This would enable girls to not only enrol in schools but also stay in schools. When girls get the needed sanitation facilities in schools, they would demand similar facilities at home, leading to a cleaner India,” she said.
Posted in National
