New Delhi, 4 February 2022 – The Education Budget 2022-23 was announced by the Finance Minister on Tuesday (1 February 2022). The annual budget on education for the year 2022-23 has seen an overall increase of 11.86%. Due to this, several major scholarship and fellowship schemes for students have seen a rise in budget. However, there are several scholarship schemes for marginalised students that have seen a decrease in budget allotment as compared to the previous financial years of 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Education Budget 2022: Reduction in SC, OBC Scholarship Allotments
- The Pre-Matric Scholarship scheme for students from Scheduled Caste (SC), offered by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE), has been cut by Rs 225 crore (from Rs 725 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 500 crore in 2022-23).
- The National Fellowship for SC students has been cut by Rs 127 crore, from Rs 300 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 173 crore in 2022-23.
- The Post-Matric Scholarship for Other Backward Classes (OBC) students has been cut by Rs 217 crore, from Rs 1300 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 1083 crore in 2022-23.
- The Scholarships for Higher Education for Young Achievers Scheme (SHREYAS) for SC students has declined from Rs 450 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 364 crore in 2022-23.
Education Budget 2022: Reduction in Scholarship Allotments by Ministry of Tribal Affairs
- The Post-Matric Scholarship scheme has been cut by Rs 28 crore, from Rs 1993 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 1965 crore in 2022-23.
- Central Scholarships have been cut by Rs 5 crore, from Rs 153 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 148 crore in 2022-23.
Note: These scholarships are offered to Adivasi students by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
Education Budget 2022: Reduction in Other Schemes
- The Maulana Azad Education Foundation, which works on the education of minority communities, has received only Rs 1 lakh in 2022-23. Last year, the foundation received Rs 70 crore.
- All major schemes offered by the Ministry of Minority Affairs have seen marginal increase in allocations as compared to the budget in 2021-22. However, the budgets for two of these schemes are still lower than what they were in 2020-21.
- The Post-Matric Scholarship for Minorities has seen an increase from Rs 468 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 515 crore in 2022-23. However, it is still lower than the budget of Rs 535 crore in 2020-21.
- The Merit-cum-Means Scholarship for Professional and Technical courses (UG and PG) has seen an increase from Rs 325 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 365 crore in 2022-23. However, it is still lower than the budget of Rs 400 crore in 2020-21.
- To read an analysis of the annual education budget, please click here.
- To read the highlights of the education budget for 2022-23, please click here.