Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 announced a record Rs 1.20 lakh crore for the education sector in the Budget 2024-25, a much needed boost amid growing calls for accessibility and affordability along with job-providing skills.
The amount is Rs 7,728 crore more than the budget estimate (BE) for 2023-24 and is nearly 6.62 percent higher from Rs 1,12,899 crore.
However, the allocated amount for FY25 is Rs 9,091 crore less than the revised estimate for 2023-24 and translates to a nearly 7.26 percent decline compared with the previous revised estimates of Rs 1,29,718 crore.
Allocation for schools increased 4.2 percent from Rs 68,804 crore (Budget Estimate) in 2023-24 to Rs 73,008 crore in 2024-25.
Higher education received Rs 47,619 crore in 2024-25, an increase of 7.68 percent from Rs 44,094 crore (Budget Estimate) from 2023-24.
The Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the government’s flagship programme for pre-primary to higher secondary level schools, has been allocated around Rs 37,500 crore, almost the same amount as last year's Rs 37,453 crore (BE).
The Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan subsumes the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
The government-run public technical institutes the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) received Rs 10,324 crore for FY25, against Rs 9,661 crore pegged in the BE for FY24, which was later revised to Rs 10,384 crore (RE).
Allocation to the University Grants Commission (UGC), the higher education regulatory body, has been reduced to Rs 2,500 crore. Last year, UGC was allotted Rs 5,360 crore and was later revised to Rs 6,409 crore (RE).
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