Union Education Minister addresses concluding session of Post Budget Webinar on “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas – Fulfilling Aspirations of People” in New Delhi

Dharmendra Pradhan today addressed the concluding session of the Post Budget Webinar on the theme “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas – Fulfilling Aspirations of People.” The webinar focused on deliberating key reforms announced in the Union Budget and exploring pathways for their effective implementation in the education sector. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, addressed the inaugural session, yesterday.

Addressing the webinar, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that the huge participation from a diverse set of domain experts and stakeholders reflected participatory governance in the truest sense. He further said that NEP 2020 advocates inclusive and accessible education and added that this year’s budget gives a big push to education, employment, enterprise, innovation and research. He thanked all the stakeholders for their valuable suggestions and insights and expressed confidence that they would play an important role in implementing the budget announcements on the ground.

The discussions focused on strengthening education-to-employment linkages, developing future-ready curricula, expanding skilling pathways, and fostering innovation-driven ecosystems through collaboration among ministries, academia, industry, civil society and implementation partners.

Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of Science and Technology; Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Information and Broadcasting; Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry; and Dr. Virendra Kumar, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment; along with Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning; and senior officials and stakeholders attended the webinar.

The Breakout Session 4, led by the Ministry of Education, deliberated on several key initiatives aimed at strengthening human capital development and promoting inclusive growth. These included the Education to Employment & Enterprise Standing Committee, AVGC Content Creator Labs, creation of University Townships, Girls’ Hostels for STEM, the National Telescope Scheme, and Divyang Kaushal Yojana.

Dr. Vineet Joshi, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, presented a summary of the outcomes of Breakout Session 4. He highlighted the two sessions led by the Department of Higher Education were on University Townships and Girls Hostel for STEM. The session on University Townships defined the structural blueprint for the first five University Townships, the challenge methodology, corridor aligned academic offerings, governance and options of financing models required to create integrated academic industrial townships. He also said that the session on Girls Hostel for STEM helped us in discussing the district level planning norms, capacity models and grant structures needed for universal hostel availability thereby enhancing women participation in STEM by ensuring that women in STEM have safe, proximate and affordable residential access. He encouraged all the participants to keep on engaging deeply so that today's insights can translate into concrete results.