Union Education Budget 2023: Education Ministry Allocated 1.12 Lakh Crore for Financial Year 2023-24

Union Education Budget 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Feb 1 presented the Union Budget 2023. According to the Union Budget, the Ministry has allocated INR 1,12,898.97 crores under Union Education Budget 2023.

Interestingly, this is the highest allocation granted to the education ministry ever. School Education Department's outlay stands at INR 68,804.85 crores, while the Higher Education Department has been allocated INR 44,094.62 crores.

Previously, the Education Ministry was allocated INR 1,04,277.72 crores for the 2022-23 financial year. The revised estimates show the Higher Education Department got INR 40828.35 crores and School Education Department got INR 59052.78 crores as per the revised estimates of 2022-23.

Also Read: UGC Grants Approval to 3 Private Universities for Online and ODL Courses Starting Next Academic Year

Union Education Budget 2023: Important Highlights

The important highlights related to Union Education Budget 2023 are given below.

• The centre has allocated ₹1,12,898.97 crore to the Ministry of Education for the 2023-24 Financial Year.
• Higher Education Budget for 2023-24 is ₹44,094.62 crore, a significant increase from ₹40828.35 in revised estimates of 2022-23. 
• The School Education budget for 2023-24 is ₹68,804.85, which is ₹9,752.07 crores more than the revised estimate for FY 2022-23.
• Finance Minister Nirmala has announced that 157 new Nursing colleges will be established in core areas.
• A National Digital Library for children and adolescents will be set up for facilitating quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels.
• States will be encouraged to set up libraries for them at panchayat and ward levels and provide infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library resources.
• For Samagra Shiksha, the centre has allocated INR 37,453.47 crores for the next financial year. The outlay of PM POSHAN is INR 11,600 crores.
• Teachers react to Union Education Budget 2023 announcements:
  Pooja Bose, Principal, Pacific World School stated that, “The 'National Digital Library for Children and Adolescents' to facilitate books and learning materials from all genres will help students in coping with the learning loss caused by the pandemic, as per the ASER survey’s findings in 2022.” 
  She further added that "The government also claimed that promoting students' learning of English and regional languages in collaboration with non-governmental organizations would enhance their comprehension of culture and regional ideas. At the same time, its efforts to provide age-appropriate reading material will inspire people to pick up studies they put on hold because of societal circumstances".
• Anshu Mital, Principal, MRG School, Rohini, stated that "Creating the "National Digital Library for Children & Adolescents" will enable books and educational resources from a variety of genres, which will aid children in overcoming the loss of learning they experienced during the pandemic. Additionally, the government declared that through working with NGOs to promote English and regional languages, students' awareness of culture and regional ideas would be improved."
  "Encouraging financial literacy in kids early on has long-term advantages for academics. Teachers will now receive virtual training for the implementation of ICT, which will aid in the overall development of institutes. In order to serve more than 3.5 lakh students, the government also intends to hire 38,800 teachers for the Eklavya Tribal Schools, which is praiseworthy."
• The fund allocation for children in the Union Education Budget 2023 has dropped from 2.35 per cent in 2022-23 to 2.30 per cent of the total, according to an analysis by the Delhi-based non-profit, HAQ Centre for Child Rights.
• Under the new Union Education Budget 2023, FM Nirmala Sitharaman stated that 100 labs for developing apps using 5G services will be set up in engineering institutions. These labs will cover among others, apps like Smart Classrooms, Precision Farming, and Intelligent & Transports Systems.
•  HAQ Centre for Child Rights through its social media handle stated that “Child Protection is ignored yet again in Union Budget 2023-24 with no change in the allocation for Mission Vatsalya. The allocation for Mission Vatsalya stands unchanged as INR 1,472 Crore.”