NEW DELHI: A 12 per cent hike in expenditure, setting up a digital university, and expanding e-learning for rural children, who missed out on school education due to the pandemic, are among the key measures announced in the education sector.
The education ministry has an outlay of Rs 1,04,278 crore, which is Rs 11,054 crore more than last year. However, the budget of Rs 93,224 crore in the previous year was revised to Rs 88,002 crore. Despite a jump of around 12 per cent, education expenditure remains about 3 per cent of the GDP, half of the desired share of 6 per cent.
School education got a significant share with an outlay of over Rs 63,449.37 crore and Rs 40,828 crore were allocated to the higher education segment. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) received Rs 8,495 crore, after Rs 8,344.84 crore in the revised estimates for 2022.
This has been aimed at keeping in mind that some engineering schools plan to accelerate growth while some seek to expand abroad. The University Grants Commission and All India Council for Technical Education saw their funding hiked to Rs 5,320.91 crore.