School Education has seen a 12.8% increase in its allocation

A 12.8 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase has been proposed in the FY20 allocation for school education to ₹ 56,536.63 crore in Budget 2019 by the Finance minister. It is a substantial increase from last year as the allocation for school education was increased by 6.2 percent. In the Revised Estimate of (2018-19), the budget allocation for the Department of School Education & Literacy was ₹ 50,113.75 crore. Within this, the National Education Mission was allotted ₹ 30,833.99 crore & Mid Day Meal in Schools programme was allotted ₹ 9,949.04 crore. School Education has seen a 12.8% increase in its allocation School Education has seen a 12.8% increase in its allocation 

The National Education Mission also called Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan saw an 18.2 percent rise in allocation to ₹ 36,447.4 crore. Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan includes three existing schemes:

• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Class I-VIII)
• Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan
  (Class IX-XII)
• Teacher Education

For the mid-day meal scheme in schools, there has been a 10.5 percent increase in allocation to
₹ 11,000 crore in FY20. The scheme provides free and nutritious meals to underprivileged students.

The teachers’ training & adult education allocation has been decreased to ₹ 125 crore from ₹ 871 crore (in the last year’s budget) that is not well for schools’ improvement.

The Centre has even allocated ₹50 crore in this year’s budget to support the appointment of Hindi teachers in non-Hindi speaking States.

Major allocations for Department of School Education & Literacy (2019-20)

Autonomous bodies include NCERT, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas

Sources: Expenditure Budget, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Union Budget, 2019-20; PRS

• Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan & Mid-Day Meal Programme in Schools together constitute 83% of the estimated spending of the Department of School Education and Literacy.
• Budget allocation to autonomous bodies saw a decrease by 3.5% (from the revised estimates of last year).
• Budget allocation for scholarships saw a decrease of 15.7%. In order to reduce drop-out of students in class VIII and encourage them to continue schooling till class XII ministry is providing scholarship that includes provisions of ₹ 6,000 per year to one lakh meritorious students of economically weaker sections.

Under the Human Resource Development Ministry (MHRD), the Department of School Education and Literacy is responsible for education imparted between the ages of 6 to 18 years, i.e., school education.

• Elementary education is imparted up to class VIII for children between 6-14 years of age. Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 the government is mandated to provide elementary education to all children.
• Secondary education is imparted between classes IX to XII for children between 14-18 years of age.

New National Education Policy:

• On May 31, 2019, the MHRD has released a draft National Education Policy (NEP) that was opened to public feedback. Nirmala Sitharaman in her speech said that the government is about to bring in a new National Education Policy, which will propose major changes in school & higher education.
• It was compiled by a committee led by Dr K Kasturirangan, a former ISRO chief. The draft policy recommended extending the RTE ambit to secondary education. This could ensure compulsory education for children till the age of 18, from the existing age of 14.
• An announcement has also been made to establish a National Research Foundation (NRF)
  to fund & promote research. This was the proposal first proposed in the draft new education policy.