Read this blog by Raju Kaphle, a Chartered Accountant and an expert in Accounting and Finance with around 8 years of industry experience. In this post, he summarizes the implications of Budget 2016-17 on the education sector, and in a way for you as students 🙂

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It’s been a few days since the budget was released. In that time, there has been a lot of talk with a bit of criticism, and a bit of praise. There have even been some clarifications as well! Now that the dust has settled, let’s look at the important facts and figures.

Overview

This time around, the budget is more inclusive, with intent to participate with rural India. The benefit of this, according to the government, will be more visible in the years to come.

The overall direction of the budget this time around is on the welfare and development of farmers, the poor and vulnerable sections of society. At the same time, the finance minister has raised taxes on the incomes of the uber-rich and introduced cesses on services and cars, which will go towards funding farmer welfare projects and infrastructure.

Given that this blog focuses on the education aspect of your — the student’s — lives, we’ll be discussing how the education sector is represented in Budget 2016-17.

This time, there is a significant focus on allocating funds towards driving the education sector. The objective appears largely to be improving the skills, thereby employability of the youth, as well as bettering the educational infrastructure in order to provide world class quality facilities.

 Top 5 things that will enhance Indian education system

1. `1,000 crore towards higher education agency

A higher education financing agency will be established, with its key focus on improving infrastructure in the higher education sector. It is important to note that there had been no such outlay in the previous budget! This initiative will certainly help top institutes that are currently suffering from lack of funds.

2. Increasing focus on skill development

A total of `1,804 crore has been allocated towards the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, as opposed to `1,500 crore the previous year. This will improve the employability of our youth.

Moreover, a certification will be instituted through a National Board for Skill Development, which will be set up in partnership with industry and academia. This is a direct fallout of the government’s impetus on skill development initiatives.

3. MOOCs for budding entrepreneurs

Massively open online courses (MOOCs) will be gaining ground in India, focusing on entrepreneurship education and training.

4. Digital depository for all your certificates

As part of the government’s steps towards all-round digitisation, a digital vault has been created for students to store all important documents such as school leaving certificates, college degrees, mark sheets and academic awards, etc. Providing such a one-stop solution for all education related documents will go a long way towards eliminating hassles for students and institutions alike, and will also make job seeking far easier.

5. World class education

Regulatory architecture will be provided to ten public and ten private institutions to emerge as world-class teaching and research institutions. 62 new Navodaya Vidyalayas will be opened, and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will be increasing its focus on the quality of education.

Also, `500 crore will be allocated to support SC/ST and women entrepreneurs.

In conclusion, there are a few new initiatives, although with limited capital to make a difference in the current education system. We feel this is just a beginning, and maybe these initiatives are on an experimental stage. We might see larger capital outlay in the years to come, which will truly make a difference.