Education Budget 2023 Highlights: 157 nursing colleges, R&D grants for IITs, 38,000 Ekalavya teachers

NEW DELHI: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced major initiatives for education and job creation in her Budget 2023 speech. The fifth full Budget 2023 was presented today by the finance minister at 11 AM. The detailed education budget 2023 documents will be uploaded on the official Union Budget website, indiabudget.gov.in

Education Budget 2023 Live: Nirmala Sitharaman announces 157 new nursing colleges; budget speech updates

Calling the Union Budget 2023 as blueprint for India@100, Nirmala Sitharaman said this year’s budget adopts seven priorities, which will act as Saptarshis guiding through #AmritKaal. The seven priorities are - Inclusive development, reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing potential, green growth, youth power and financial sector.

Education Budget 2023: Highlights

Here are the major announcements for the education sector made during the Budget 2023 speech by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

• 157 new nursing colleges will be established in core locations.
• In the next 3 years, the Centre will recruit 38,800 teachers and support staff for the 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) serving 3.5 lakh tribal students. The Ekalavya schools have had their budget increase by a significant Rs 581.96 crore, from Rs 1418.04 crore in 201-22 to Rs 2,000 crores for the 2022-23 financial year.
• The Government will provide a research and development (R&D) grant to one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to encourage indigenous production of lab-grown diamonds in a bid to reduce imports.
• 100 labs for developing applications for 5G services will be set up in engineering institutes.
• National digital libraries for children and adolescents and physical libraries at panchayat and ward levels will be established. National Book Trust and Children's Book Trust will provide books in local languages and English to the physical libraries.

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• Dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices will be supported in existing institutions to ensure availability of skilled manpower for futuristic medical technologies and research.
• Integrated online training programme for civil servants and government employees to upgrade skills.
• PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth in the next 3 years.
• New-age courses for industry 4.0 like coding, AI, IOT, mechatronics, drones and other soft skills will be launched. 30 Skill India International Centres will be set up across states.
• District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) will be developed as "vibrant institutes of excellence". Teacher Training will be renvisioned through innovative pedagogy, continuous professional development, and ICT.