THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Education sector has received a major allocation in the state budget with the total outlay pegged at Rs 2,391.13 crore, denoting an increase of Rs 111.84 crore from the previous budget. A major portion of the funds for school education has been earmarked for ongoing major schemes such as mid-day meal and free uniform.
While Rs 84.28 crore has been earmarked for the basic infrastructure development of government schools, an additional Rs 60 crore has been set apart for the construction of new blocks/rooms with modern facilities, including smart classrooms, infrastructure development of educational offices, woman-friendly wash rooms and toilets in schools.
The budget has earmarked Rs 10 crore for creating a barrier-free atmosphere for students with disabilities in schools through special learning aids/equipment.
While institutions that are engaged in taking care of intellectually disabled children will be allocated Rs 62 crore, a new scheme implemented through SCERT for improving the ‘efficiency’ of school teachers has received an assistance of Rs 5 crore in the budget.
Higher education
In the higher education sector, the budget has announced a new scheme ‘CM Researchers Scholarship’ with an allocation of Rs 20 crore for providing Rs 10,000 as monthly fellowship to regular/full time PhD scholars who are not receiving any other fellowships.
As the first phase towards establishing seven centres of excellence in universities, engineering colleges and higher education council, the budget has earmarked Rs 25 crore. Universities of Kerala, Calicut, Kannur Sanskrit, MG University and NUALS have been allocated funds for various activities. Malayalam University and Sreenarayana Guru Open University have received budgetary support for infrastructure development.