- Finance Minister announces women's hostels in every district to boost higher education access
- A Rs 10,000 crore District Hostel Scheme aims to support female apprentices and reduce dropout rates
- Five university townships near industrial hubs will enhance work-integrated learning and skill development
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday introduced a series of measures for women's hostels, education, and skills development in the Union Budget 2026-27. To improve women's access to higher education, the Finance Minister announced the construction of women's hostels in every district.
"Safe and accessible accommodation remains a critical barrier for women pursuing higher studies," she said while presenting the Budget.
"With a 58 per cent increase in female apprentices already recorded between 2021 and 2024, the new Rs 10,000 crore District Hostel Scheme provides the physical infrastructure our Degree Apprenticeship ecosystem needs to reach the 'unreachable.' By solving the housing crisis for female learners, we can now mobilise the 42 per cent of undergraduate women who currently drop out of the workforce pipeline," said Dr Nipun Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship.
In the education sector, the Finance Minister also announced the establishment of five university townships near major industrial and logistics hubs.
"By co-locating education hubs within five major industrial clusters, Budget 2026 addresses the 'last-mile skilling' challenge. This will enable TeamLease to scale Work-Integrated Learning Programmes (WILP), where the classroom is literally adjacent to the factory floor. We expect this to reduce migration-linked attrition by 25-30 per cent and provide MSMEs with a steady stream of local, 'Day-1 ready' apprentices who have mastered high-precision technology in situ," Sharma added.
On skills development, Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital said, "Unemployability has been a bigger challenge than unemployment in India. Education integrated with skills leading to employment is the only way to improve employability and employment for the youth of our country. The Education-to-Employment Enterprises Standing Committee is a welcome move to bring all stakeholders together and ensure the ecosystem works jointly towards a more employable future for our youth."
Neeti Added, "This will help attract higher-value jobs to India from global organisations and further strengthen our presence across sectors such as IT, GCCs, BPMs, KPOs, engineering, and healthcare. The link between school education, apprenticeships, internships, and work-integrated learning is key to our success and should be the committee's core agenda."
