Thiruvanthapuram: Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal has kept apart a significant portion of the state's resources for education in his first full-fledged budget presentation on Friday.
While the FM set aside Rs 2,546 crore earmarked for education sector, Rs346 crore was allocated for mid-day meals in schools alone. A sum of Rs 7 crore was demarcated for developing basic infrastructure in public schools and Rs 140 crore for school uniforms.
Rs 15 crore was alloted for education of specially-abled students.
The higher education sector has been allocated Rs 200 crore. Five universities in the state will get 1,500 new hostel rooms in the next year.
Rs 5 crore was kept aside for the formation of a Microbiology Centre of Excellence.
Rs 15 crore has been allocated for research on graphene .
The finance minister also allocated Rs 350 crore for skill parks in the 14 districts.
Four science parks with advanced research facilities will be established and government will mobilise Rs 1,000 crore for the project.
The minister also announced Rs 1,000 crore for the development of IT parks.