The Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday while presenting the Union Budget 2021 announced that 100 new Sainik schools will be set up in collaboration with private schools and non-profits (NGOs) in a public-private partnership structure. Ms Sitharaman added that 15,000 schools will be strengthened as per National Education Policy (NEP 2020).
"More than 15,000 schools will be qualitatively strengthened to include all components of the National Education Policy. They shall emerge as exemplar schools in their regions, handholding and mentoring other schools to achieve the ideals of the Policy," Nirmala Sitharaman said in the Budget speech 2021.
Furthermore, Rs 50,000 crore has been allocated for the National Research Foundation for over five years and new central university in Leh will be set up. "In my Budget Speech of July 2019, I had announced the National Research Foundation. We have now worked out the modalities and the NRF outlay will be of Rs 50,000 crores, over 5 years. It will ensure that the overall research ecosystem of the country is strengthened with focus on identified national-priority thrust areas," the minister said.
The National Language Translation Mission will be established to make policy and government documents available in Indian languages, "We will undertake a new initiative – National Language Translation Mission (NTLM). This will enable the wealth of governance-and-policy related knowledge on the Internet being made available in major Indian languages," Ms Sitharaman said.
Ms Sitharaman has also proposed legislation for setting up a Higher Education Commission (HEC). "In Budget 2019-20, I had mentioned about the setting-up of Higher Education Commission of India. We would be introducing legislation this year to implement the same. It will be an umbrella body having 4 separate vehicles for standard-setting, accreditation, regulation, and funding."
The government of India will create a formal umbrella structure for higher education institutes in nine cities. "In 9 cities, we will create formal umbrella structures so that these institutions can have better synergy, while also retaining their internal autonomy. A Glue Grant will be set aside for this purpose," Ms Sitharaman said.
To strengthen nutrition, Mission Poshan 2.0 will be launched, says Nirmala Sitharaman. Mission Poshan 2.0 will be formed by merging the supplementary Nutrition Programme with Poshan Abhiyan. The SNP is delivered through Anganwadis, or early childhood care and education centres.
Ms Sitharaman also announced that 750 Eklavya Model Residential Schools will be set up in tribal areas. "We have set ourselves a target of establishing 750 Eklavya model residential schools in our tribal areas. I propose to increase the unit cost of each such school from Rs 20 crores to Rs 38 crores, and for hilly and difficult areas, to Rs 48 crores. This would help in creating robust infrastructure facilities for our tribal students," Ms Sitharaman said.
