In the Union Budget 2017 presented yesterday, the Honourable Finance Minister of India has made some important announcements regarding the educational sector of the country. The allocated budget for the education sector has been increased from 72394 Crores in 2016-17 to 79686 Crores for the financial year 2017-18 which is a welcome step.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad welcomes the proposal of the Government to set up a National Testing Agency for all Entrance Exams for higher education conducted in the country. This step will relieve the Central Board of Secondary Examination and various universities from the additional task of conducting such examinations. In this context, we reiterate our demand that there should be national level entrance examinations for all professional courses in the country in line of NEET and such exams should be conducted by this new agency.

ABVP welcomes the Finance Minister’s announcement of reforms in the Universities Grants Commission (UGC). This has been a demand of ABVP. We hope the Government will announce its plan for this reform soon. The announcement of two new AIIMS in Gujarat and Jharkhand, and introducing 5000 new MS/MD seats every year is an important decision which will benefit the medical students and researchers. The FM also said that science education will be given an increased emphasis.

The introduction of 350 virtual courses on the Swayam Platform, Innovation Fund for secondary education, 4000 crores towards Sankalp Programme for Skill Development and extension of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras to 600 districts are welcome steps which, if implemented well, can prove to be great source of job creation and empowerment for the youth of the country.

 

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