BENGALURU: Education has taken centrestage in CM Basavaraj Bommai’s budget, with an allocation of 12 per cent, which is the highest among all sectors. The budget relies on 3Es -- Education, Employment and Empowerment, and ‘Sab ka Vikas.
“Our objective is to increase the involvement and participation of all people in the state’s economy. For this, we have adopted the 3E mantra – employment, education and empowerment -- for the uplift of weaker sections,” he said on Friday.
Among numerous schemes and programmes to achieve the 3Es, a curriculum based on the guidelines of the National Education Policy 2020 will be formed in schools. It will be made for pre-primary, primary, secondary and higher secondary, as well as for teachers’ training and adult literacy.
Under this, Anganwadis will also have a new curriculum for education, and child care of those between the ages of three and six, with Rs 30 crore allocated. The initiative will be done in coordination with the
Department of Women and Child Welfare Development and the Department of Public Education.
Meanwhile, various upgradations are slated to take place with the chief minister proposing that government schools with basic infrastructure be upgraded to ‘Model Schools’ at the hobli level. Selected high schools will also be upgraded to pre-university colleges.
Similarly, seven government engineering colleges will be upgraded to Karnataka Institutes of Technology, and will collaborate with foreign universities in future. Seven new model universities will also be established in educationally backward areas of Chamarajanagar, Bidar, Haveri, Hassan, Kodagu, Koppal and Bagalkot districts.
The budget also made provisions for free online coaching for those undertaking competitive examinations like KPSC, UPSC, SSC, banking, railway, CDS, NEET and JEE, among others.Salaries have also been increased for midday meal and Anganwadi workers.