Monday, May 20

Education Sector Sees Growth Under New NEP 2020, Says Nirmala Sitharaman

Edited by Uzma Parveen
Education Sector Sees Growth Under New NEP 2020 And HEIs, Says Nirmala Sitharaman

Presenting the Interim Budget 2024, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the education sector growth under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While addressing the Lok Sabha, the finance minister underscored the major achievements in the Indian education system and institutes of higher learning.

Emphasising the role of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, adopted under the present government, Sitharaman said, “The NEP 2020 is assuring the transformational reforms in the education.” The finance minister also exemplified government’s commitment towards quality teaching and fostering holistic development of individuals. “PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) are delivering quality teaching and nurturing holistic and well-rounded individuals.”. Noting that in the last year’s budget, Under the PM Shri initiative 14,500 schools were slated for upgrades to showcase the new elements of National Educational Policy 2020.

While reflecting governments commitment towards establishment of higher education learning institutions, FM informed, “A large number institutes of higher learning including 7 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), 16 Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs), 7 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), 15 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and 309 universities have been opened”.

Union government also embarked upon skilling of youth through establishing Institutes of training. “Government also focused on upskilling and reskilling of 54 lakh youth and established 3000 New Indian Institutes of Training (ITI)”, she informed further.

Lauding the interim budget announcements, Minister of Education, Dharmendra Pradhan says, “Establishment of a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore with 50-year interest-free loan announced in the Interim budget will exponentially scale up the research, innovation and entrepreneurship landscape.”

Finance Minister during her budget speech highlighted increasing rate of women participation in education sector. “Female enrolment in higher education has gone up by 28 per cent in the last 10 years.”, said Nirmala Sitharaman. She also informed about the growing role of women enrolment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field in India.  “In the STEM courses the girls and women participation, in India, is 43 per cent which is highest in the world”, Sitharaman informed.