Sustainability Karma

India's first and only show on sustainability on All India Radio

Union Budget 2025-26 Expectations

Education, skilling, and mental health form interdependent pillars of sustainable development: Shreya Krishnan of AnitaB.org

Budget 2025: India’s demographic dividend presents immense potential, but this opportunity demands a skilled workforce prepared for emerging challenges.

Education has been the most important bedrock of a country’s progress but is still largely an uneven affair across India. Through the New Education Policy, some gaps will be met, and so the budget also needs to supplement such goals with considerable investments, primarily for young children. Early learning is crucial both for cognitive as well as for social development of children, who are otherwise majorly hindered by socioeconomic inequalities.

The National Early Childhood Care and Education 2024 is primarily concentrating on the skill-based approach to early education in India. Improvement of infrastructure will largely be carried out in rural schools with basic amenities such as safe drinking water, working toilets, and digital material for learning. Furthermore, the training of teachers must be geared toward modern pedagogy and equip the educator to provide quality education. Parents’ involvement programs through community initiatives are another excellent step toward having better enrollment and retention rates within schools.

Students have to be well exposed to interdisciplinary approaches of learning in STEAM, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. Through entrepreneurial learning opportunities, students must be given a chance to discover different innovative careers for themselves. Group learning environments are supposed to include children with different disabilities, allowing them access to education. This means disability is supposed to form the core business of education while ensuring equal participation in learning chances.

Skilling the Workforce of Tomorrow

India’s demographic dividend presents immense potential, but this opportunity demands a skilled workforce prepared for emerging challenges. The transition from academic learning to employable skills requires greater emphasis.

Although the Skill India Mission has made progress, early-career skilling remains underdeveloped. According to the India Skills Report 2024, only 51.25% of Indian youth are employable. Public-private partnerships offering industry-specific training aligned with market needs should feature in the budget.

Including vocational training in school curricula will enable students to acquire practical skills alongside formal education. Dedicated funds for internships, apprenticeships, and career mentoring can go a long way in strengthening youth employment prospects into successful workforce absorption.

The workforce participation of women has declined sharply after COVID. Budgeting must skil women so they can go back to work and the core of empowerment must remain financial independence. Capacity-based programs for women will increase the confidence and employability of the women.

Access to opportunity and capacity-building initiatives is essential to bridging gender gaps in skilling. Targeted programs must empower women through mentorship, training, and support systems, enabling them to thrive in diverse fields.

Empowering the Girl Child

While there has been progress in education and health for girls and government programs like the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative have raised much-needed awareness, we need deeper investments to address the underlying issues.

The enrollment rate for girls in higher education is only 27.3% in 2020-21, which is below the national average, according to the Ministry of Education. More scholarships and financial aid to the girls, especially at higher levels would immensely aid this endeavour. Schools need to be made safer and there needs to be dedicated funds assigned towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics streams so that all those stereotypes are broken that keep girls out of high-growth fields. Empowering girls is both an economic and social necessity.

Mental Health: The Unspoken Pandemic

It is too much of an afterthought in debates over policy and yet has direct implications for both productivity and welfare. Women shoulder an enormous mental load, one that is aggravated by reported and unreported violence.

The Economic Survey 2023-24 has further mentioned the issues of growing mental health in India, which need to be addressed. In fact, almost 10.6% of Indian adults suffer from some sort of mental disorder. This budget should be planned for the additional services on mental health in rural and semi-urban areas. Counselling centres in schools, places of work, and community centres can provide easy early intervention. Mental health education through school curricula can build a more compassionate and informed society.

Education, skilling, and mental health form interdependent pillars of sustainable development. Prioritising these sectors in the Union Budget can unlock the potential of India’s citizens, fostering economic growth and social equity. The more we invest in creating an equitable ecosystem of functioning, the more we address the root causes of systemic challenges, building solutions that uplift the nation as a whole.

The prosperity of India’s people is the foundation of its future. The upcoming budget presents a unique opportunity to invest in transformative programs that empower individuals, strengthen communities, and propel the nation toward long-term success.