Rs 40 crore cut in funds meant for higher education

Accordingly, the state government has allocated Rs 4,584.21 crore for higher education compared to previous year figure of Rs 4,620.20 crore, which is aboutRs 40 crore less. However, the Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who presented the budget in the house, said that under the first generation graduate scholarship programme Rs 460.25 crore has been provided in the higher education budget.

Stating that the government will establish a new arts and science college at Rameswaram, which will be named after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the Minister said, an amount of Rs 382 crore has been sanctioned for upgrading infrastructure in ten universities and 65 government colleges.

The Deputy Chief Minister also said that Rs 100 crore has been sanctioned to Anna University to upgrade infrastructure, including equipment, to impart teaching at international standards in the university and the engineering colleges under the control of Director of Technical Education.

Arul Aram, president, Tamil Nadu Federation of University Faculty Associations (TANFUFA) said that if the government do not allocate more funds for higher education, the infrastructure will suffer.

“If there is no better fund allocation, existing vacancies in the colleges and universities will not be filled,” he said adding “research activities will also suffer.”

“Many state-owned colleges are undergoing financial crunch. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to increase its sanction to also conduct more research activities to compete with current trend,” he added.

Though there was a slight improvement in the allocation of Rs 28,757.62 crore to the school education compared to previous year’s figure of Rs 27,205.88, the government has not made any new announcements.

However, the school education budget said that Rs 381.31 crore has been allocated with NABARD loan assistance for taking up construction of classrooms, labs, toilets and other infrastructure facilities.

In last year’s budget, the government had made several announcements for school education including upgrading schools, setting up virtual classrooms, high tech labs and among others.

Tamil Nadu State Platform for Common School System general secretary PB Prince Gajendra Babu said there is mention in the budget about the fund allocation to improve primary Anganwadi schools where LKG and UKG is being introduced. “The budget should also focus on improving admissions in governmentschools,” he added.