PANAJI
The education sector received a significant boost in the latest Budget announcement as the government has increased the total allocation with an outlay of Rs 4,323.98 crore. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's claim about allocating a maximum share of 16 per cent to the education sector indicates it has been accorded top priority amidst numerous challenges faced by the State.
“The Education sector has been given an outlay of Rs 4,323.98 crore which indicates 18.54 per cent growth and is around 16 per cent of the total budget size,” the CM said as he tabled a comprehensive Goa Budget 2023-24 on Wednesday.
The total allocation to Higher Education and School Education has also been hiked to Rs 589.15 crore and Rs 2,194.03 crore, respectively.
One of the key objectives of the government is the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 in higher education for which a provision of Rs 2.21 crore has been made.
“NEP focuses on holistic growth of learners where skill improvement and competency development is part of the curriculum,” he added.
For courses in higher education with employment potential, the government made Rs 5 crores provision as a special grant.
In another initiative to encourage high school and higher secondary education among Scheduled Tribes, the government proposed a scheme for reimbursement of the Goa Board Examination Fee for Class X and Class XII students for which a provision of Rs 92.50 lakh has been made.
Sawant, also Minister for Education, further committed to completing the ongoing project of improving the infrastructure of government schools claiming that out of 709 schools, GSIDC completed repairs, upgradation and maintenance/reconstruction of 672 campuses so far. This includes 24 schools during the current fiscal year.
“For upgradation and renovation of existing schools, a provision of Rs 99.30 crore has been made,” he added. The project has been underway for close to 15 years since the State government 2008 roped-in GSIDC after the public works department failed to cope-up with the work allotted to them. The Corporation had set a deadline to complete the project by 2022, which was delayed.
In addition, the government proposed to do away with the manual submission and verification of salary bills of all grant-in-aid institutions by proposing the implementation of an online system titled “Mukyamantri Gurudashina Yojna”. As per the proposed scheme, the processing of salaries including verification of bills of over 10,000 employees will be online. Konkani/Marathi schools that receive special grants will also be covered under this scheme.
Other new schemes to recognize and reward teachers with remarkable performance in the overall development of students, as well as felicitate academic excellence of gifted students from schools from all economic backgrounds named “Bhau Daji Lad School of Academic Excellence” will be implemented. Budget allocations of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh have been made for the two schemes, respectively.
