Finance Minister Sitharaman presented Budget 2023 on Wednesday and with an emphasis on education and employment, she proposed Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 4.0 and the setting up of 30 Skill India international centres to ensure job creation.
To ensure that India’s workforce is future ready, FM’s Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 4.0 scheme also covers new age courses for industry 4.0 like coding, artificial intelligence, robotics, mechatronics, Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing drones and other soft skills to skill youth. For international opportunities, 30 skill India international centres will be set up across different states.
The government aims to skill lakhs of youth for over three years with enabled demand based skilling and sector specific skilling i.e. they will be trained with skills that are relevant in the industry.
Sitharaman also announced that the government will roll out a pan India Direct Benefit Transfer to provide support to 47 lakh youths in three years. A Unified Skill India Digital platform will also be introduced to ensure those seeking jobs can be linked to employers.
Earlier as part of Budget 2022, the government expanded the One Class One TV Channel initiative under the PM e-Vidya scheme to 200 channels from 20 as education moved online. This, Sitharaman said, would have enabled all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages for classes 1-12.
The government also established a digital university “to provide access to students across the country to world-class quality universal education, with personalised learning experience,” according to Sitharaman.
In Budget 2023, experts called for a special focus on incentives and subsidies. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported that banks' education loans grew by 12 percent in the 12 months ended September 30, 2022. Industry leaders the budget for the next financial year must encourage more students to take up courses by reducing and subsidising interest rates on loans.
“Providing subsidies to students who wish to make investments in either procuring devices for educational purposes such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets are also an expectation from the 2023-24 Budget. This will enable many learners to upskill and get access to high-quality education at a lower cost,” said Neeti Sharma, Co-Founder and President, TeamLease Edtech.
