Some excerpts from the Indian Government Budget 2007.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-day Meal Scheme

15. In allocating resources, school education must have primacy.
Hence, I propose to increase the allocation for school education by
about 35 per cent from Rs.17,133 crore in 2006-07 to Rs.23,142 crore
in 2007-08.

16. Out of this amount, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) will be provided
Rs.10,671 crore. Further, I propose to increase the provision for
strengthening teachers training institutions from Rs.162 crore to
Rs.450 crore. Next year, we will appoint 200,000 more teachers and
construct 500,000 more class rooms.

17. The Mid-day Meal Scheme will be provided Rs.7,324 crore next year.
In addition to covering children in primary classes, beginning
2007-08, we propose to cover children in upper primary classes in
3,427 educationally backward blocks.

18. The transfer to Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh will increase from
Rs.8,746 crore to Rs.10,393 crore.

19. As more students complete upper primary classes, it is necessary
to increase access to secondary education. Schemes for this purpose
are under formulation, and I propose to double the provision for
secondary education from Rs.1,837 crore in 2006-07 to Rs.3,794 crore
in 2007-08.

Means-Cum-Merit Scholarships

20. While the SSA has improved the enrolment ratio in schools to 96
per cent, the drop out ratio continues to be high. The critical year
appears to be transition from class VIII to class IX. In order to
arrest the drop out ratio and encourage students to continue their
education beyond class VIII, I propose to introduce a National

Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme.

Selection will be made through a national test from among students who have passed class VIII. Each student will be given Rs.6,000 per year for study in classes IX, X, XI and XII. I propose that 100,000 scholarships may be awarded every year. In order to fund this programme, I intend to create a corpus fund of Rs.750 crore this year, and add a like amount to the fund every year over the next three years. Accordingly, a sum of Rs.750 crore will be placed with the State Bank of India, and the yield from the fund will be used for awarding the scholarships.