BHUBANESWAR: Education and skill development has received the highest allocation in the Budget for 2021-22 fiscal with the State government earmarking a whopping Rs 24,370 crore with a major thrust on holistic development of schools, colleges and skill training institutes. The budget for education sector this fiscal will focus on imparting quality education and providing employable skills, said School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash.
An allocation of Rs 253 crore has been made under Mo School programme, six times more than the previous fiscal. Considering the success of Mo School campaign, the State government has also allocated Rs 7 crore for the Mo College Abhiyan which will be launched in March.
Apart from these two programmes, focus has also been given on Samagra Sikshya for which, Rs 3,066 crore has been allocated to improve quality of education, learning outcomes and encourage use of technology to empower children and teachers.
The allocation for Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, however, has been reduced. Around Rs 280 crore has been allocated under this head against previous year’s Rs 400 crore. The government has also allocated Rs 957 crore for mid-day meal scheme in schools at elementary level.
An outlay of Rs 10 crore has been made for Odia University at Satyabadi. The infrastructure development funds for higher education has been pegged at Rs 157 crore, while the provision made under RUSA remains at Rs 212 crore. An amount of Rs 46 crore has been allocated for laptop distribution among meritorious students.
Department wise, budget provision of Rs 18.279 crore has been made for the SME department, while Rs 2,416.63 crore is allocated for Higher Education department and Rs 664 crore for Skill Development and Technical Education department.