National

Thrust on higher education in budget

— Photo: PTI

Jubilant: Students of the Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, welcome the announcement on education loans in the budget on Monday.

NEW DELHI: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has now made higher education its thrust area with a view to increasing gross enrolment ratio to 15 per cent by the end of the 11th plan.

A key announcement in this regard was made in Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget speech itself on Monday in the form of a student loan for economically weaker sections. Under this scheme, eligible students will be provided full interest subsidy during the period of moratorium.

It will cover loans taken by such students from scheduled banks to pursue any of the approved courses of study, in technical and professional streams, from recognised institutions in the country. An estimated five lakh students would benefit from this scheme.

Further, he has extended the scope of Section 80E of the Income-tax Act — providing tax exemptions for education loans to pursue higher studies in specific areas — to cover all sectors including vocational studies after school.

While the Plan outlay for higher education has been raised from Rs. 6,800 crore in 2008-09 to Rs. 9,596 crore, the allocation for school education and literacy remains static at Rs. 26,800 crore. However, the non-Plan outlay in both departments has gone up sizeably; primarily owing to the increase in salaries following the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.

In keeping with a commitment made in the President’s address to Parliament last month, the Minister announced the setting up of a National Mission for Female Literacy to address the low level of female literacy. This mission-mode exercise to reduce female illiteracy by half in three years will focus attention on minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes besides other marginalised groups.

To make best use of the demographic advantage the country has in terms of a large percentage of young population, the Minister increased the allocation for the ‘Mission in Education through ICT’ scheme to Rs. 900 crore.

Similarly, the provision for setting up and upgrading polytechnics under the Skill Development Mission has been increased to Rs. 495 crore. Both these schemes are aimed at equipping the youth with skills that will increase their employability.

A special allocation of Rs. 50 crore has been made for improving the facilities at Punjab University in Chandigarh. In addition, he announced an allocation of Rs. 827 crore for continuing with the 11th Plan agenda of setting up a central university in each of the States which till date have none.

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