Kerala Budget 2018-19: Schools to Get 45,000 Hi-tech Class Rooms; Focus on Women-Centric Schemes

The Kerala Budget for the year 2018-19 presented by Finance Minister Dr. TM Thomas Isaac envisages a major expansion of education and health facilities in the state, as well as in improving women’s participation in economic life.

Students flow to public schools as facilities improve

Isaac said that the trend during the past quarter century when students increasingly moving to private schools has been reversed now. "That 1.4 lakh students took transfer certificates from unaided (private) schools and joined public schools is the biggest popular acclaim for this government," said the Minister. 

"The people have entrusted such great hopes on the measures taken by the government to raise the quality of the public schools where students from ordinary families study."

The Minister announced that 45,000 hi-tech class rooms would be set up this year, in 4775 schools. 138 schools have been allotted Rs. 614 crore, and 70 schools with more than 1000 students have been allotted Rs. 210 crore from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), to make them centres of excellence. Rs. 300 crore would be spent from KIIFB funds to set up computer labs in all primary and upper primary schools. There would be special financial assistance to heritage schools which are more than 150 years old. 

The activities of the biodiversity park and the autism park would be expanded. New arts, sports and cultural parks would be set up.

Facilities in public hospitals to be expanded

The budget proposes to set up Oncology departments in all government Medical Colleges. The Malabar Cancer Centre in Thalassery would be raised to the standards of the Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, and another centre on the same lines would be set up in Kochi. All these together would enable the public sector to provide treatment to 80 per cent of the cancer patients in the state.

Cardiology departments with cath labs and operation facilities would be set up in all district hospitals. Emergency medicine departments would be set up in all district general hospitals, and trauma care centres would be established in all taluk hospitals. All taluk hospitals have been already equipped with dialysis units.

The setting up of these facilities in public hospitals is aimed to providing affordable, quality treatment of lifestyle diseases for the common people.

The previous LDF government of Kerala had tweaked the centrally-sponsored insurance scheme Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to provide benefits to more people, to reduce rates and to favour public hospitals and insurance companies. In the budget speech on Friday, Thomas Isaac expressed the apprehension that the new health insurance scheme announced by the central government might have the effect of excluding many people who are currently beneficiaries of the RSBY in Kerala. The Minister said that the Kerala government would ensure that everybody who is excluding in this manner would be included in the scheme - the state government would pay the premium if needed. "We would not allow the insurance scheme to wreck the public health system in Kerala. The scheme should be formulated in such a way that the interests of the public health system would be protected. Forty per cent of the scheme is to be paid for by the state governments. Therefore the central government should discuss the implementation of the insurance scheme with the state governments," Isaac said.

Rs. 1685.70 crore has been allotted for public health services. These include funding for setting up cath labs, ICUs, dialysis units, blood banks, dental units, emergency care centres, super speciality facilities and maternity units in major hospitals, and for raising public health centres to family welfare hospitals. A state-wide ambulance service e-network would be set up in the lines of cab aggregator services like Uber and Ola.

ASHA workers’ honorarium raised

The ASHA workers employed by the central government as part of the National Health Mission have long been denied a decent honorarium. The central government has not even recognised them as workers. The state government had increased their honorarium by Rs. 500 in the previous budget. This would be further increased by Rs. 2000 per month in 2018-19, Isaac announced.

Push for gender justice

The budget gives much emphasis on steps to push the state in the direction of gender justice. "While Kerala is standing tall as a beacon of political awareness in many other areas, there is shameful illiteracy here as far as ensuring gender justice is concerned," said Isaac. "But women are now coming forward to stand up and challenge the traditions of oppression and humiliation... This budget promises all support to the battle of women to establish their individuality and dignity." During the budget speech, the Minister quoted frequently from the writings of women writers in Malayalam.

A gender budget document also has been made available along with other budget documents. The outlay for projects solely focussed on women has been increased from Rs. 912 crore (4.5 per cent of the total plan outlay) in 2017-18 to Rs. 1297 crore (5.7 per cent of the plan outlay). Apart from this, within general development schemes, Rs. 1960 crore has been allotted to the component schemes which would particularly benefit women. Thus the total outlay for women-centric schemes has risen from 11.5 per cent in 2017-18 to 14.6 per cent in 2018-19. 

The schemes for women include the building of accommodation facilities for women which are expected to help in increasing women's work participation rates. A 'she-lodge' in Ernakulam at a cost of Rs. 4 crore, working women's hostels in all 14 districts, and short stay homes would be built. Studio apartments are to be built for women by the Labour Department. The plan lays particular emphasis on setting up creches in workplaces. There would also be measures to build women-friendly toilets in government offices, police stations, schools and other public spaces.

A 20-point programme has been announced on the 20th anniversary of Kudumbashree, which includes micro enterprise parks, a Startup Village entrepreneurship scheme, online portal for marketing of products and District Women's Legal Clinics.