The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced 100 Sainik schools would be set up in partnership with NGOs. In addition, 15,000 schools will be qualitatively strengthened to include all components of the NEP. They shall emerge as exemplary schools in their regions, handholding and mentoring other schools to achieve the ideals of the policy. In the past few months there has been a lot of talk and several educationists have been urging the government to increase spend in the education sector. The current public expenditure on education in India has been around 4.4 per cent of the GDP.
The Finance Minister also said, “We will be introducing legislation this year to introduce a higher education commission. It will be an umbrella body to look after accreditation, regulation and funding.” She also said that a Central University will also be set up in Leh.
“The Budget proposals for 2021-12 rest on six pillars: health & well-being, physical & financial capital & infrastructure, inclusive development for aspirational India, reinvigorating human capital, innovation & R&D, Minimum Govt & Maximum Governance,” Sitharaman said before presenting the first set of Union Budget 2021.
The year 2020 has been one of the catastrophic years in terms of education, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the schools and colleges to shut down and ought to online learning methods.
Last year, the government allocated Rs 99,300 crore for the education sector. They introduced a New Education Policy (NEP) which aims at universalisation of education from pre-school to secondary level. In this policy, the government announced that students will not be forced to study any particular language.
Also, the ’10+2′ structure will be replaced with ‘5+3+3+4’ model. It proposes a 4-year multi-disciplinary bachelor’s degree in an undergraduate programme with multiple exit options. These will include professional and vocational areas.
Not just this, in NEP 2020 the government changed the policies for the upcoming teachers and teacher education. To become a teacher one requires a minimum of 4-year Bachelor of Education by 2030. Also, the teacher recruitment process will be made transparent.
