Subiksha Hari Shankar, an undergraduate student at MOP Vaishnav College for Women in Chennai, finds many bright spots on the Union Budget 2026. She considers the proposal to establish girls’ hostels in every district a pathbreaking move, which would support access to education, particularly in STEM disciplines.
Speaking with Edexlive from her personal experience, she said, “Safety was my parents’ foremost concern when I enrolled for college, followed by affordability.” While she acknowledged her privilege in being able to access secure accommodation, she said that many students are unable to afford private hostels, which is a gap this Budget initiative can effectively fill.
Shankar said that the Budget supports measures to prolong women scholars’ stay in the education system. She noted that the option of viability gap funding would boost women’s participation, align with the National Education Policy, and contribute to the broader goal of a developed India. Pointing to the 11.28 per cent increase in budgetary allocation for higher education, she observed that dropout rate among women tends to be higher at advanced stages of education. Increased funding at this level, she said, could directly address this challenge.
Shankar felt that proposed initiatives, like linking education with employment and entrepreneurship, the establishment of a National Institute of Design (NID) with a focus on animation, visual effects, and gaming, provisions for the differently abled, and the development of university townships will further strengthen the education sector in the country and promote inclusive growth.
She is particularly enthused about the establishment of a dedicated NID that appeals directly to Gen Z. She described it as a progressive shift away from traditional academic streams towards creative fields. With the government planning to implement such programmes in around 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, she said that it could legitimise and promote career paths that are often socially discouraged and not understood well by earlier generations. “Students are often guided towards conventional fields, like engineering or computer science, and pursuing alternative careers requires considerable personal effort,” she said. In that context, she views the Budget’s emphasis on creative industries as a timely and positive intervention.
While discussing the broader impact of education-related announcements, Shankar added the focus on women in the Budget acted as a source of motivation. However, she said that caution should be taken to plug leakages of policy implementation at the grassroots, so that it can avoid mistakes of the past when good policies were announced but found wanting on the ground.