Budget 2022| Education outlay at a record Rs 1.04 lakh crore, up 12%

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday kept aside a record Rs 104,277.72 crore for expenditure on education in her budget for the next financial year. This is Rs 11,053.41 crore more than the budget estimate for 2021-22 fiscal and translates to nearly 12% growth when compared with  previous budget estimate (BE).

Given that the government had reduced its allocation for the education ministry by almost Rs 5223 crore in its revised estimate (RE) for 2021-22, the outlay for FY23 is Rs. 16267 crore more than the RE for Fy22.

It means, over 17 percent growth in education outlay this time if one compares BE for 2022-23 with the 2021-22 RE.

In BE for 2021-22, the union government had allocated Rs.93,224.31 crore towards the education ministry.

Of the total allocation for FY23 as announced by the finance minister on Tuesday, school education has received the lion’s share with an outlay of over Rs. Rs. 63449.37 crore, and Rs.40,828 crore was allocated to the higher education segment.

FM in her budget speech said the government recognises the need of supplementary education to help students recover from the learning loss caused by the closure of schools and colleges.

In the 2021-22 budget estimate, while ₹38,350.65 crore was allocated for higher education, school education had received ₹54,873.66 crore.

In Budget 2022-23, Sitharaman Tuesday allocated Rs. 37383.36 crore for universalisation of education though its flagship Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) as against Rs. 30, 000 crore RE of 2021-22.

The SSA this year will play a key role in reviving learning as schools reopen after a prolonged closure due to the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic.

The elite Indian Institutes of Technology have received Rs. 8495 crore for FY23,  against 8344.84 crore pegged in the RE for Fy22, as some of the engineering schools seek to accelerate growth and some seek to expand abroad.

The University Grants Commission and All India Council for Technical Education too have seen their funding hiked to Rs. 5320.91 crore in 2022-23 as against Rs. 5139.2 crore pegged in the revised estimate of Fy22.