Increase in Budget for Interest-Free Education Loans: Prakash Javadekar

Addressing the second edition of Higher Education Human Resource Conclave held in Rajasthan, Education Minister of India, Mr. Prakash Javadekar announced that the Union government has decided to increase the annual allocation for interest-free loans to approximately 10 lakh students across India. The government also plans to digitize more than 15 lakh classrooms to better the quality of education in the country.

In 2014, the total budgetary allocation for interest-free education loans was Rs. 800 crores approximately, which was used by 4-5 Lakhs students, according to government data. This amount has been increased to Rs. 2200 crores approximately in 2018, the amount of which will be rolled out in the next 3 years.

He also mentioned that various measures have been taken to revolutionize digital education under the “Operation Digital Board”. Some of the initiatives include:

• Launch of “Operation Digital Board” in all schools in 5 years
• Digitization of classrooms from Standard IX to Post-Graduate level

Read More: List of Education Loans Available to Students in India

This will empower students with all-round information, with an interesting learning experience and increased teacher’s accountability. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Javadekar also mentioned the various feats of the BJP-led government in the education sector like:

• Increase in spend in the education sector to Rs. 1.10 lakh crore from a meagre Rs. 63,000 crore by the previous government
• Allocation of Rs. 4 crores each for the first & second phase of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)
• Initiation of Phase III of RUSA scheme
• Allocation of Rs. 6000 crore to Andaman, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Sikkim & Uttarakhand under Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme

Since the Higher Education Human Resource Conclave was hosted in Rajasthan, the Education Minister of the state also highlighted the reforms and innovations in the state in the last 4.5 years, including setting up of 81 new colleges in Rajasthan and funding of 75 other colleges to improve their infrastructure.

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Education Ministers from other states like Manipur & Uttarakhand also highlighted the improvements in the higher education sector in their respective states. In fact, Uttarakhand Education Minister Mr. Dhan Singh Rawat announced the commencement of ‘Gyankhumb’, a two-day education conclave in Haridwar between November 3 and November 5, 2018. The Conclave is going to be inaugurated by President Mr. Ram Nath Kovind, he said.