Education sector gets Rs 21,292 cr

Hyderabad : Improving education standards, skilling and filling up vacant teacher jobs topped the agenda of the education sector in the state budget for 2024-25.

Presenting the budget in the State Assembly on Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka proposed an allocation of Rs 21,292 crore. Of this, Rs 500 crore was proposed for the infrastructure development in universities. Osmania University and Women's University will each get Rs 100 crore, and Kakatiya and other state universities will get Rs 300 crore.

The Finance Minister said that to strengthen school education, it has already notified a mega DSC with 11,062 posts to fill the existing teacher vacancies in the government schools to provide quality education to poor and middle-class students. The examinations for the same were started on July 18, he said.

Finding fault with the previous government for destroying the autonomy of the universities and running them with in-charge vice-chancellors, he said the State government has recently constituted a search committee for the appointment of V-Cs to the state universities. Bhatti Vikramarka said the state government entered into an agreement with Tata Technologies Limited to upgrade the existing ITIs into centres of excellence. As part of the project, 65 ITIs will be transformed into centres of excellence. The total cost of this public-private partnership project is Rs 2,324.2 crore. The State government will bear Rs 307.95 crore and the balance amount will be borne by Tata Technologies Ltd through its CSR programme. The State government allocated Rs.300 crores for this project. Under the project, 5,860 students will be trained each year in six new long-term courses, and 31,200 students will be trained each year in short-term courses. The skill centres provide training in line with industrial needs and will be useful to job seekers, he informed.