- As India progresses towards skill development initiatives, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated ₹99,300 crore to the
education sector — including ₹3,000 crore for the skill segment. - Eyeing global expansion, the government will also step up its efforts to attract external commercial borrowing and FDI in the sector.
- In order to provide quality education to the underprivileged, ‘degree-level’ full-fledged online courses will be launched in India.
- The country will have 150 higher educational institutions to start apprenticeship embedded degrees by 2021.
This is ₹4,500 crore higher than last year’s allocation. Apart from this, she paved way for the sector to be flush with funds for investment as she opened up the sector for external commercial borrowings. It means Indian education companies will be able to access cheaper foreign debt - which is significant in times when banks are slowing down credit to companies across sectors.
India also plans to expand its 'Study in India' programme. In this regard, the government will introduce an INSAT exam to enroll Asian and African students in Indian universities. This will mirror the SAT and GMAT exams of the US which are used to enrol foreign students.
The programme announced last year, focussed to bringing foreign students to study in India’s higher education institutions.
Educators cheer online course announcements
The Budget said that ‘degree-level’ full-fledged online courses will be launched in India and that too by top 100 national rankings. This will help provide quality education to the underprivileged.
"This will help engineers learn on the job which is actually good because in India major population of engineers lack the skills required for growth which will be tackled here. This will definitely prove to be a big step towards digitalisation of Indian education system,” said Akhand Swaroop, CEO & Founder of the Catalyst Group.
Given the increasing global demand, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will also kickstart a 'bridge course' to reskill its teachers, caregivers and nurses. It will also work to associate medical colleges with district hospitals to overcome the shortage of doctors in the country.
A new education policy in the works
Sitharaman added that there have been over 200,000 new additions in the New Education Policy, which will be announced soon. National Police University and National Forensic University are also being proposed.
The government will introduce a one-year internship for engineering students. She also announced that the country will have 150 higher educational institutions to start apprenticeship embedded degrees by 2021.
India will have the largest working age population in the world by 2030. During the Union Budget speech, Sitharaman said that India needs more education, skills and employment opportunities. This will, in turn, need more money to attract better teachers and developed laboratories.
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