Kathmandu, May 29

The government has increased the budget for education, science and technology by more than 17 per cent for the fiscal 2019-20.

Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada, presenting the budget said that Rs 163.76 billion had been allocated for education, science and technology. This is more than 17 per cent in comparison to Rs 134.50 billion budget allocated in the current fiscal under the same title.

The government has announced the next 10 years as community school quality improvement decade, allocating Rs 8.53 billion for the programme. The amount will largely be used to build 300 new high schools across the a. It will also be used to build necessary hostel facilities at community schools in the mountain and hilly regions.

The government has proposed to draft University Umbrella Act. The government has also decided to restructure University Grant Commission as Higher Education Commission. The grant money which is being provided to UGC, however, has been increased to Rs 17.64 billion. For the current fiscal, the government had allocated Rs 14 billion for UGC.

Similarly, Rs 1.10 billion budget has been allocated for Madan Bhandari University of Science and Technology. The finance minister also said nuclear research centre would be established in the country. Minister Khatiwada also pledged to build a forensic science laboratory in all the provinces.

Five billion rupees budget has also been allocated for President Education Reformation Fund. The fund will be used to provide free sanitary pads to girl students in all community schools and for hiring at least one sports teacher for each community school. Likewise, Rs 3.191 billion budget has been allocated for scholarship.

Some 1.076 million Dalit students, 1.965 million female students and 63 thousand disabled children will benefit from the government’s scholarship programme, in the next fiscal.

The government has also allocated Rs 5.95 billion budget to provide free lunch to more than 22 million students of community schools.

The government has allocated Rs 1.50 billion for a programme, ‘Know your nation, make your nation’. The programme aims to improve vocational education in the country and provide capacity building trainings to teachers teaching subjects such as mathematics, science and English.