The Union Budget 2023-2024 was presented to the parliament on February 1 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. According to budget records, the Ministry of Education will get a staggering ₹1,12,898.97 crore from the centre for the upcoming fiscal year. Notably, this is the largest budgetary allocation ever given to the ministry. The expenditure for the department of School Education is ₹68,804,85 crore, while the expenditure for the department of Higher Education is ₹44,094.62 crore.The expenditure budget for the fiscal year 2022-2023 allotted ₹1,04,277.72 crore to the Ministry of Education. According to the updated figures, the Higher Education Department received ₹40828.35. According to the updated forecasts for 2022-2023, the School Education Department received ₹59052.78.
Opinions of eminent educationists
“This year’s budget primarily focuses on capacity-building, teacher training, and skilling the youth. It also focuses on boosting medical education and aims to encourage and promote AI while ensuring equal education for all through various government schemes. Realizing the importance of multidisciplinary courses as a futuristic approach and the special impetus given to teacher training through pedagogical interventions and continuous professional development opportunities will further strengthen the mode of teaching and education sector in India. Teachers are nation-builders and change-makers, so their empowerment will have a multiplier effect on future generations. It’s a great budget and we are looking forward to seeing India shine.”–Ms. Madhur Gupta, Principal CBSE, Genesis Global School
“The Union Budget 2023 has put forward the intent, which we believe will help democratise quality content for all. The emphasis of the government is to universalise quality education, and for this, there is an impetus to leverage new-age technology – AI and AR/VR, thus giving students easy access to high-quality content in phygital format, including internet, mobile phones, TV and radio.Another major initiative that must pick pace – is to inculcate and increase reading habits via physical books and learning portals. The fact, that there is a push to establish a National Digital Library for children and adolescents to facilitate access to quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels…augurs well for solution providers like Oxford University Press (OUP) which has been supporting education initiatives in the country for over 11 decades. It is a welcome move that the states will be encouraged to set up libraries at panchayat and ward levels and provide infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library resources. As OUP, we’re the repository of quality content, be it curricular or otherwise. And, in recent years, there has been an intentional push to use new technologies and make this content available and accessible in blended formats. We are aligned with the government’s push towards education sector and hope to collaborate with the government in its sincere endeavour to strengthen India in its pursuit of ‘education for all’.”-Sumanta Datta, Managing Director, Oxford University Press, India
“With Rs 1,12,899 crore for the Ministry of Education, the union budget 2023 has set the highest ever allocation, this will further help in effective roll out of National Education Policy. The budget places a strong emphasis on teacher training, recognizing it as a critical requirement in light of the recent shift in learning and teaching methods by using innovative pedagogies, continuous professional development and use of ICT. Skilling is another emphasis of the budget with 30 Skill India International Centers announced in line with the National Education Policy. The launch of new-age courses like coding, AI, IOT and the move to set up 3 Center of Excellence for AI will have long term benefits. The strengthening of the Eklavya Model Residential Schools with enhanced budgetary support of Rs 2000 crores for the FY 2022-2023 and the planned recruitment of 38,800 teachers and support staff in the coming years is a welcome development that will enhance access to and strengthen education at the grassroots. The announcement of national digital library for children along with physical libraries at panchayat and ward level with books in local languages and English will help in promoting a culture of reading among children.”-Ms. Monica Malhotra Kandhari, MD, MBD Group