'Got onboard 30 crore students for digital learning': Ramesh Pokhriyal on Budget Sammelan 2021
Union Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Tuesday shed light on India's giant leaps in the education sector. Speaking on India TV's special show Budget Sammelan 2021, he said that the ministry undertook the herculean task of getting onboard as many as 25-30 crore students online for digital learning amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
"This is probably the first such example in the world where we got onboard 25-30 crore students for online digital learning, especially when we had no immediate readiness."
"At a time when countries moved a year back, India stood by its 33 crore students, conducted exams and declared results in time. Key JEE, NEET exams and final year exams too were conducted in time. We didn't let students' one year go waste," Pokhriyal told India TV.
On being asked about the unavailability of internet posing obstacles for some students, he said that the ministry was working on alternate means of learning for them. Pokhriyal further said that nine cities will be made education hubs in the near-future.
"If we see the revised budget, we have not gone down but our budget has increased. Our higher education budget has risen by 5,500 crore. School education budget too rose by 5.14 per cent," Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal said in response to a question on the cut in education budget this year.
This year, the spending on education has been reduced by Rs 6,076 crores from Rs 99,300 crore in 2020 to Rs 93,224 in 2021.
The government has decided to qualitatively strengthen over 15,000 schools under the National Education Policy 2021. About 100 new Sainik School will be set up in partnership with NGOs. The government has also proposed to amend the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme to enhance opportunities for youth.
The government will introduce legislation this year to implement the setting up of the Higher Education Commission of India. Meanwhile, about 750 Eklavya model residential schools will be set up in tribal areas. A Central University is going to soon come up in Leh.
Modalities have been worked out for the national research foundation, and Rs 50,000 crore over five years has been earmarked. Post Matric Scholarship schemes for the welfare of Scheduled Castes have been enhanced.
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WATCH VIDEO: EDUCATION MINISTER RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK'S FULL INTERVIEW ON BUDGET SAMMELAN
