Chandigarh, March 12: Haryana Chief Minister Sh. Manohar Lal said that providing quality education to each and every child of the state is the utmost priority of the State Government and while realizing the same a total outlay of Rs. 18,410 crores has been allocated in the Budget 2021-22 against the RE 2020-21 of Rs. 15,629 crores with an increase of 17.8 percent. This outlay of Rs 18,410 crores includes Rs. 9,014 crores for elementary education, Rs. 5,899 for secondary education, Rs. 2,793 crores for higher education and Rs. 705 crores for technical education, informed the Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister who is also the Finance Minister said this while presenting the State Budget for the year 2021-22 during the ongoing Vidhan Sabha Session here today.
The Chief Minister said that the on-going COVID-19 Pandemic has altered the lives of children in profound ways especially due to state-wide closure of schools. In this light, the focus of National Education Policy (NEP) to recognize and foster unique capabilities of each student for their holistic development by sensitizing teachers and parents will not only enhance state’s resilience in response to the Pandemic but will also foster an educational system with stimulating learning environments in academic and non-academic spheres.
“Realizing this, the government of Haryana aims to achieve a distinct place on the educational map of the nation by implementing most of the components of the NEP before 2025,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.
State has taken exemplary initiatives under the Saksham Haryana Programme
The Chief Minister said that the Haryana Government has taken exemplary initiatives with the aim to enhance conceptual understanding for students from classes 3-8 under the Saksham Haryana Programme. As a part of NEP, Haryana will expand its efforts towards the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission to provide early language and mathematical skills to students from classes 1 to 3, impacting 6 lakh students from 8,400 schools.
Under NEP, the Haryana Government plans to upgrade classroom infrastructure
The Chief Minister said that under NEP, the Haryana Government plans to upgrade classroom infrastructure through blended learning models to improve learning outcomes. A sum of Rs 700 crore will be allocated to promote technology-based learning in all government schools which will include provision of digital tablets, digital classrooms etc.
A sum of Rs 192 crores will be allocated in ensuring quality education
The Chief Minister said that with the aim to promote inclusivity, free education will be provided to students from all categories from classes 9th to 12th. A sum of Rs 192 crores will be allocated in ensuring quality education and opportunities to them. Special focus will be given to disadvantaged groups by creating Special Education Zones (SEZs) for targeted groups to improve the enrolment from these groups. A Gender Inclusion Fund (GIF) of Rs. 114.52 crore will be created to provide higher financial assistance to girl students in these SEZs. The State will be upgrading Aarohi, Kasturba Gandhi and Mewat Model schools to the level of model Sanskriti School, he added.
Super 100 programme to be expanded to two more centres
The Chief Minister informed that on-going Super 100 programme has been successful in shaping talent from government schools for India's most prestigious institution. Therefore, the program will be expanded to two more centres - Hisar and Karnal. Rs. 10 crores will be allocated in this regard. He said that the 50 Incubation Centres (Dakshacentres) covering 9 key skills have been constructed in the state in schools with state of the art equipment. These incubation centres focus on ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset’ and assist students in becoming entrepreneurs. Taking this forward, Haryana will work to provide exposure to vocational education to at least 50 percent students by 2025 and a sum of Rs 10 crores will be allocated in this regard this year.
Rs. 20 crore allocated for Single Education System
The Chief Minister said that while realizing the need to an educational system where a child can avail education from Nursery to Post Graduation in a single institution i.e. ‘KG to PG’ and allocation of Rs 20 crores has been made for this path-breaking initiative which would be setup at Kurukshetra University and Maharishi Dayananda University, Rohtak this year.
“Such a system would have the benefit of improved access of vocational and higher education to students by providing all levels of education in a single institution, curtailment of dropout rate, providing an ecosystem for holistic learning and also facilitate employment linkages by focussing on higher education and vocational training,” asserted the Chief Minister.
Proactive Policy adopted for opening government colleges within a radius of 20 km, especially for girls
The Chief Minister said that presently the State has 35 Universities which include one Central University, 10 State Universities and 24 Private Universities and 170 Government Colleges. The State Government has a proactive policy of opening government colleges within a radius of 20 km, especially for girls.
“There is a need to consolidate the already created infrastructure with a focus on providing quality based relevant higher education to the youth and their placement. At the same time, we are giving push to startups among students to make them job providers and self sustainable in place of job seekers,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.
Haryana envisages producing skilled manpower
The Chief Minister said that the vision of technical education in Haryana is to produce the skilled manpower which is relevant to the industry and society for socio-economic growth of the State. National and State level projects like IIM-Rohtak, NID-Kurukshetra, extension campus of IIT-Delhi at Sonepat, Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology, Murthal and SIET, Jhajjar, Rewari, Nilokheri have been set up. Further, new Government Polytechnics at Panchkula, Umri, Dhamlawas (Rewari), Rajpur (Sadhaura) have been completed and courses have been started there. The Government has approved the establishment of Institute of Engineering Technology at Government Polytechnic, Manesar.
The Chief Minister said that in the last Budget two new schemes were introduced regarding popularization of science stream among students and issue of passports to students.
“I am happy to inform that as many as 25497 students were approached by 41 institutions to make them aware regarding Science stream and related future prospects. 3100 final year students of Government/Aided/Society Polytechnics and Government Engineering Colleges have already applied for passports and about 1500 students have received their passports,” informed the Chief Minister.
Sh. Manohar Lal said that a large number of students pass out annually from the State colleges and universities. They are suitably placed in different organizations and departments across India. To benefit existing students from their experience and exposure, our government has decided to organize alumni week in their alma maters.