The Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2021 announced that a total of 100 new Sainik Schools will be set up in partnership with NGOs, private schools and states. More than 15,000 schools will be qualitatively strengthened to include all components of the National Education Policy, she added.
Speaking of Higher Education, Sitharaman proposed legislation to introduce Higher Education Commission of India. “It will be an umbrella body having 4 separate vehicles for standard-setting, accreditation, regulation, and funding,” she said. Furthermore, for accessible higher education in Ladakh, a Central University in Leh will be set up.
“Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, called on President Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan before presenting the Union Budget 2021-22,” read a tweet by the President of India.
A total of 750 Eklavya model residential schools will be established in tribal areas. The unit cost of each school has been increased from Rs 20 crores to Rs 38 crores, and for hilly and difficult areas, it has been increased to Rs 48 crores.
The centre has allotted Rs 35,219 crores for 6 years (till 2025-2026) to benefit approximately 4 crore students belonging to the SC category.
While proposing amendment to the 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, Sitharaman said.
Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ thanked Finance Minister to announce that National Education Policy got a good reception and to amend the Apprenticeship Act.
To strengthen the ‘Innovation and R&D’ sector, Rs 50,000 crore has been allocated for the National Research Foundation for over five years.
National Language Translation Mission (NLTM) — a new initiative is being introduced to make policy and government documents available in major Indian languages. Also, a Deep Ocean Mission will be launched with a budget outlay of more than Rs 4,000 crores over five years for a better understanding of the Ocean Kingdom. “This Mission will cover deep ocean survey exploration and projects for the conservation of deep sea bio-diversity,” said the Finance Minister.
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