The substantial increase in funds allotted to the education sector and youth development than the previous year shows that this year's Budget has focused more on reforms than new initiatives.
The top priority given to restructure the University Grants Commission, the apex body for higher education, is perceived as a game changer by experts.
The promise to provide greater autonomy and outcome-based accreditation to well-performing institutes comes as a follow-up to the earlier announcement of converting the country's top state-funded and private varsities into world class institutes.
Though setting up a National Testing Agency - which is expected to conduct all entrance tests like the NEET and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)- was in the pipeline since long, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced it will be launched this year. This confused states like Tamil Nadu, which are opposing the examinations. However, a senior Union Education Ministry official clarified that states lawfully exempted from uniform entrance tests will not be forced into this umbrella, which is established for administrative convenience.
Measures to promote innovation and creativity among schoolchildren, particularly secondary grade students, have also been introduced.
For the first time, an 'innovation' fund has been announced to motivate students in coming up with novel projects to act as solutions for local problems. SWAYAM, a free online learning portal, would soon allow students even without formal education get trained by experts in top institutes like Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).
Skill development schemes remain on the Centre's priority checklist, as nearly `6,200 crore has been allotted for Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion programme (SANKALP), Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKK), aimed at helping nearly 3 crore youths.