While presenting the interim budget on February 1, 2024, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had stated that, “In the full budget in July, our Government will present a detailed roadmap for our pursuit of ‘Viksit Bharat’.” If India does aim to become a developed country by 2047 as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat, the Union Budget 2024 which will be presented on July 23 must prioritise the education of children, who are the future of the country. Read on to find out what experts from the education sector shared with us at Brainfeed about their expectations from the Union Budget 2024.
India needs to become rich before getting old. Hence, Education remains critical to reaping demographic Dividend and realizing vision of Viksit Bharat.
1. Consistent increase in Budgetary allocation to Education is a welcome step. Budget should lay down a roadmap to increase Expenditure on Education to 6% of GDP in line with National Education Policy 2020.
2. A Comprehensive programme (on lines of Poshan 2.0) to improve learning outcomes at Primary Education through Early Childhood Care and Education, Teacher Training, Redesigning Curriculum etc.
3. Address the problem of higher dropout rate, especially for girls, in secondary Education through an integrated approach encompassing Poverty alleviation, Upgradation of school infrastructure, vocational training etc.
4. Focus on enhancing employability of graduates through comprehensive schemes encompassing Industry-academia collaboration, curriculum upgradation, Incubation centres etc.
5. Explore making Apprenticeship as legal right to improve skill set of youths.
Overall, the focus of the Budget should be on “Padhega India, Tabhi Toh Badhega India”.
