“The Government is coming good on its promise of putting education outcomes and skilling upfront. The allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore for improvement of education infrastructure is one of the highlights of this budget. A medical college for every three parliamentary constituencies is a path breaking initiative and one that will give a huge boost to medicine as a career. FM’s plan to identify 1,000 B.Tech students each year and providing means to pursue PHDs in IITs and IISCs is again a great initiative to drive focus towards research and is in sync with the massive investment of almost 1 lakh crores towards education research.
FM’s focus on teacher training and digital education is welcomed and was much needed! Agriculture, Research and Food related career domains have also got a huge boost with the massive fund allocation to these sectors, which shall create large number of employment opportunities in these domains. However, channelizing the right talent from school level to these career domains should be the focus area. While teacher training is explicitly mentioned in the FM’s speech, training on leveraging technology in education across the board has not been defined and this will be critical to see the impact of digitisation of education.” – Prateek Bhargava, CEO, Mindler
“We are very happy to see the continued focus on research and development in the education sector. The fact that Rs. 1 lakh crore has been earmarked for revitalising innovation under RISE over the next 4 years augurs well for the future. We at SRM are committed to create an innovation and R&D focused institution and we believe that we are completely in sync with the aspirations of the Government in reaping rich demographic dividend and this is possible through high quality education. The focus on creating a corpus of the best brains of the country and getting top 1,000 B.Tech students from the top institutions to work for research is a healthy way forward and we are grateful to the FM for his programmes in the segment” – P. Sathyanarayanan, President of SRM University
“From an education perspective, the Union Budget proposals for 2018 – 2019 look progressive. One conspicuous highlight is its focus on enhancing the quality of education. For more than a decade now there has been a lot of debate surrounding the quality of education and how to maximise learning outcomes in India. The Hon’ble Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley’s focus on using digital technology for enhancing the scope of the sector is bound to be a game changer in the country’s education system. The start of an integrated B. Ed. program with teacher’s training as the main focus will ensure better educationists, which in turn will ensure better quality students and a more responsible education structure. The proposal to invest Rs. 1 lakh crore over the next 4 years for a new drive to boost Research and Development is laudable, and will go a long way in bringing in more professional education modules. The biggest driver in the sector will undoubtedly be the thrust on moving from ‘black boards to digital boards’ with increased emphasis on technology and digital intensification.” – R Theyvendran, MDIS Secretary-General
“Most importantly, announcement of setting-up 24 new medical colleges across the country will open up more seats for medical graduates. Besides, upgrading many existing medical colleges is also an excellent move by the government. The improvement of standards and establishment of new medical institutes will not only help the aspiring medical students with more options, it will also help in increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio.
Additionally, investment of Rs. one lakh crore for over next four years and to integrate B.Ed. program with a focus on improving teachers’ training for imparting quality education in schools, the implementation of Ekalavya schools by 2022 that will be treated at par with Navodaya Vidyalayas in every block with more than 50% ST population will further help in improving education standards of schools across the country. The government has also announced to set-up PM Research Fellow Scheme where 1000 best B-tech students will be selected each year from premier institutions and facilitate them for PhD courses in IITs and IISc with a handsome fellowship. This will energise the youth through education, skills and jobs and help in governments move to transform India.” – Aakash Choudhary, Director Aakash Institute
“Congratulating the government on Union budget, we appreciate the focus towards improving the quality of education and intensifying Digital India. Aiming from blackboard to digital board schools by 2022, the country will advance teaching and learning methodology for both teachers and students. We believe that the announcement of Rs 1 lakh crore to revitalise and upgrade education system will be a game changer towards increasing the digital penetration in education which will shift the country from a manufacturing base to a research base.” – Prashant Bhalla, President, Manav Rachna Educational Institutions
“The sector was looking forward to clear and specific promotional measures since it was one of the first five sectors included for ‘Make in India’ initiative. Regrettably, nothing has been done to improve domestic manufacturing in the sector. And that too when the Indian medical Device industry has opted for self regulation wherever necessary for strengthening the government’s hands in improving affordable healthcare in the country.
In addition, we also need to think of consumers and dept. should consider to introduce a Tax Innovation Structure of stalling Artificial Inflation of MRP by imposing a 1% GST Cess on MRP to have a disincentive to Importers from passing on above effect of duty increase to the Consumers and even by indigenous manufacturers . This will make Indian Medical Devices including Diagnostics competitive and safeguard consumers from artificial inflation and exploitatively high MRP.” – Mr Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry
“It was heartening to hear the honourable FM stating that while ‘the Government managed to get children to school but the quality of education is a concern’. The focus on quality and learning outcomes is key to the longer term success of any education programme. The allocation of 1 lac crore for the development of education infrastructure responds well to the needs of India’s schools and colleges that need upgradation in facilities. This allocation blends in well with the intent to augment digitization and the ‘shift from blackboard to digital board’, which is consistent with the Digital India mission. This also resonates with India’s young demographic.
Integrated Education is a worthy mention in the budget and we hope that it leads to a teaching-learning process that combines print, digital, assessments and teacher training. The focus on teacher training continues from last year’s budget announcement and it exemplifies the renewed focus on this noble profession given that teachers are the principle pivot in the learning eco-system.” – Sivaramakrishnan V, Managing Director : Oxford University Press India
