Education is the backbone of every country. It plays an important role in nation-building and nurturing future leaders. It is a key through which a country’s economic condition can be reformed and individual citizens attain the power to grow financially. The reach of education has improved a lot, but when it comes to the quality of education, India is still lagging behind compared to other developed nations. That’s why in 2018, the government has taken big steps to improve the quality of education and to revitalize the institutional infrastructure. Here’s a list of some of the new initiatives taken by Government in Education sector.
Eklavya schools will be established for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Schedule Tribe (ST) students by 2022 on the lines of Navodaya schools. Eklavya model residential schools will be set up in each Block having more than 50 percent tribal areas and 20,000 tribal people. These schools will be part of Navodaya Vidyalayas. It will provide training in sports and skill development. It will also have special facilities for preserving local art and culture.
RISE or Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education was announced in Union Budget of India 2018. It aims to lend low-cost funds to government higher educational institutions and mobilise funds from the market and offer 10-year loans to centrally-run institutes. It will be launched in the next four years with a total investment of Rs. 1 trillion and will be financed by a restructured higher education financing agency (HEFA). In order to mobilise funds Rs. 1 lakh crore corpus under RISE, HEFA will need equity of Rs 10,000 crore, of which Rs 8,500 crore will be provided government and remaining by Canara Bank, which partnered with government to set up HEFA, and other corporations.
The Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme is aimed at attracting the talent pool of the country to doctoral (Ph.D.) programs of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for carrying out research in cutting-edge science and technology domains, with focus on national priorities. It will provide to 1000 B.Tech students from premier institutes to pursue PhD in IITs and IISc, along with which they will receive handsome fellowships. Its objective is to produce better research in India and make its institutions climb up in global rankings.
The government of India will soon launch the learning portal ‘DIKSHA’ to upgrade the teaching skills and will initiate the integrated B.Ed programme, which is a combination of degree in art, science and education courses. Teachers are the primary source of education for the children. So it is very crucial for them to be properly trained with their skills updated and honed to suit the upcoming technological advancements. That’s why the government has made these programmes mandatory for every individual.
